Education 
through  Nature 
Study  «*Munson 


LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Class 


EDUCATION 

THROUGH 

NATURE  STUDY 


FOUNDATIONS  AND  METHOD 


BY 

JOHN  P.  MUNSON,  PH.D. 

University  of  Chicago:  B.S.,  M.S.   University  of  Wisconsin:  Ph.B.   Yale-, 
Department  of  Biology •,  Washington  State  Normal  School 


J 


NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO 

E.   L.   KELLOGG  &  CO, 


COPYRIGHT,  1903,  B^ 

E.  1.  KELLOGG  &  CO. 

NEW  YORK. 


JItoergsbal  fflmtson 


130694 


PREFACE 


THIS  work  is  the  result  of  a  course  of  lectures  deliv- 
ered by  the  author  on  Methods  of  Science-teaching. 
It  owes  its  form  and  content,  first,  to  impressions  con- 
cerning the  scope  and  character  of  current  nature- 
study  literature;  and  second,  to  impressions  regarding 
the  general  scientific  preparation  of  teachers  who  have 
been  under  his  instruction  and  supervision  in  institute, 
normal  school,  and  normal  training-school  work. 

Current  nature-study  literature,  dealing  chiefly  with 
the  facts  of  nature  study,  fails  to  aid  the  teacher  in 
two  important  difficulties  where  help  seems  to  be  most 
needed,  namely:  (i)  many  teachers  fail  to  grasp  the 
real  significance  and  importance  of  the  subject;  (2) 
they  do  not  know  how  to  handle  the  subject, — how  to 
begin,  how  to  continue,  and  how  to  end  the  study  of 
an  object.  This  book  is  an  attempt  to  remove  those 
difficulties. 

The  facts  of  natural  science  are  so  numerous  that 
they  cannot  be  condensed  into  a  small  volume.  Be- 
sides, even  a  complete  catalogue  of  all  the  facts  of  nature 
cannot  be  substituted  for  a  proper  study  of  nature 
itself.  Nature  study  in  book  form  is  a  contradiction 
in  terms.  The  "book  of  nature"  has  its  own  message 
to  give  to  the  inquiring  mind;  and  this  message  can 
be  communicated  only  by  nature  itself.  Interpreters 
have  thus  far  been  rather  unsuccessfully  employed, 
because  we  have  not  been  able  to  become  as  little 


6  Preface 

children,  asking  their  own  mother  their  own  questions 
in  their  own  language. 

The  problem  of  education  is,  at  bottom,  the  biologi- 
cal problem  of  growth  and  development.  There  is 
no  one  law  which  better  expresses  the  fundamental 
factors  in  development  than  that  of  "action  and 
reaction."  This  excludes  the  notion  of  isolation; 
and  emphasizes  the  fact  of  mutual  interdependence; 
the  conception  of  matter  and  motion;  the  kinetic  and 
the  static  elements  in  nature,  and  the  organic  unity 
of  the  world. 

With  our  advances  in  sciences,  especially  the  biologi- 
cal sciences,  we  are  able  now,  better  than  ever  before, 
to  appreciate  the  supreme  importance  of  the  physical 
basis  of  our  intellectual  life.  Strange  to  say,  it  is  only 
recently  that  the  human  mind  has  begun  to  realize  ^ 
that  things  grow;  and  that  education  is  growth,  modi- 
fied and  sustained  by  external  influences. 

With  the  marked  shifting  of  psychology,  both  in 
matter  and  method,  which  biological  research  has 
made  necessary;  with  the  accumulating  results  of 
comparative  philology  and  anthropology,  showing  the 
origin  and  development  of  language,  both  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  in  the  race,  to  be  dependent  on  physical 
and  biological  factors;  with  the  ever-increasing  com- 
plexity of  social  conditions  accompanying  social 
and  industrial  evolution,  making  the  environment  of 
children  more  and  more  artificial  and  abnormal,  it 
may  be  safe  to  predict  that  nature  study,  as  a  branch 
of  school  work,  will  receive  even  greater  attention  than 
it  now  does. 

It  is  now  fifteen  years  since  I  first  published  an 
outline  for  teaching  nature  study  in  the  grades.  The 
method  here  presented  is  the  result  of  a  natural  selec- 
tion resulting  from  my  experience  in  all  grades  of 
school  work  and  with  all  kinds  of  pupils.  I  have  been 
convinced  by  this  experience  that  a  good  method  of 


Prefi 


ace 


teaching  nature  study  must  be  based  on  the  more 
fundamental  laws  of  life  and  development,  rather  than 
on  the  individual  tastes  of  him  who  applies  it.  These 
individual  likes  and  dislikes  are  transient  phases, 
fluctuating  and  varying,  and  apt  to  lead  to  those 
extremes  which  usually  end  in  a  reaction.  Such 
extremes  are,  therefore,  to  be  avoided.  We  are  to 
base  our  method  of  teaching  nature  study  neither 
upon  the  economic  value  of  the  subject  nor  upon  the 
purely  .emotional  or  sentimental  aspect  of  it.  We  are 
not  to  make  it  so  practical  as  to  render  it  impracticable; 
nor  so  sentimental  as  to  make  it  silly.  That  would  be 
an  unfortunate  tendency  in  our  schools,  if  children 
should  be  taught  to  know  the  busy  bee,  only  to  deter- 
mine how  many  pounds  of  honey  it  can  produce,  and 
how  much  hard  cash,  reckoned  in  dollars  and  cents, 
it  is  worth  to  us.  Groveling  utilitarianism,  like  absurd 
sentimentalism,  are  passing  phases  of  extremes  in  edu- 
cation that  cannot  endure.  We  need  knowledge, 
united  with  common  sense,  to  control  these  two  ex- 
tremes of  civilized  life.  Knowledge  wedded  to  common 
sense,  yielding  that  intellectual  honesty  which  contact 
with  nature  promotes,  must  find  the  golden  mean 
between  erratic  extremes. 

Considering  that  the  majority  of  public-school 
children  do  not  enter  the  high  school,  there  is  little 
danger,  perhaps,  of  making  the  work  too  scientific. 
All  the  science  they  are  able  to  master  will  not  hurt 
them  any,  as  some  teachers  seem  to  fear.  Much  is 
being  said  now  about  child  study  and  child  interest. 
May  not  some  attention  to  the  proper  method  of 
studying  objects  enable  us  better  to  understand  the 
child?  From  what  we  already  know  of  these  obscure 
subjects,  it  seems  reasonable  to  assume  that  methods 
n  teaching  should  be  such  that  the  fullest  exercise  of 
all  the  pupil's  powers  is  secured,  and  the  natural  results 
of  those  activities  realized. 


8  Preface 

It  is  believed  that  when  the  foundations  of  nature 
study  are  understood,  and  when  the  aims  to  be  at- 
tained have  become  clearly  defined  in  the  teacher's 
mind,  a  method  will  be  developed  by  the  thinking 
teacher.  Such  a  method  must  be  the  true  method  so 
far  as  that  particular  teacher  is  concerned. 

In  submitting  this  rather  formal  special  method  of 
treating  nature  study  in  the  grades,  it  is  not  intended 
to  instruct  those  who  have  a  satisfactory  method  of 
their  own;  but,  rather,  to  assist  those  who  feel  that 
they  have  not  yet  been  able  to  see  their  way  clear 
amid  such  an  array  of  objects  and  phenomena  as 
those  with  which  nature  study  deals.  A  sense  of  fatigu- 
ing bewilderment  is  often  felt  by  the  inexperienced 
teacher.  This  doubtless  must  always  be  the  case  so 
long  as  both  the  method  and  the  matter  of  nature  study 
are  chaotic.  Uniformity  and  law  must  be  discovered 
here  as  elsewhere. 

J.   P.   MUNSON. 
WASHINGTON  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE 5 


PART  I 

FOUNDATIONS     AND     METHOD     OF    NATURE 
STUDY 

CHAPTER  I 

Section  I.     i .  INTRODUCTION  (historical) 19 

2.  Meaning  of  the  Back-to-Nature  Movement 22 

3.  Science  and  Culture 24 

Section  II.    STAGES  IN  HUMAN  CULTURE 26 

a.  Economic  Stages 26 

1.  The  Hunting  Stage 26 

2.  The  Fishing  Stage 27 

3.  The  Pastoral  Stage 27 

4.  The  Agricultural  Stage 27 

5.  The  Industrial  Stage 28 

b.  Probable  Causes  of    the  Back-to-nature  Movement  in 

Education 29 

CHAPTER  II 

Section  III.    GENERAL  AIMS  OF  NATURE  STUDY 33 

1.  Ideals  and  Culture  in  Nature  Study 35 

2.  The  Senses  in  Nature  Study 37 

Section  IV.    TRAINING  OF  THE  JUDGMENT  AND  IMAGINATION..  40 

1.  The  Judgment  in  Nature  Study 40 

2.  The  Imagination  in  Nature  Study 42 

Section  V.    THE  ESTHETIC  AND  ETHICAL  FUNCTION  OF  NATURE 

STUDY 45 

1.  The  Beautiful  in  Nature  Study 45 

2.  The  Ethical  Function  of  Nature  Study 48 

9 


to  Table  of  Contents 


PAGE 

Section  VI.    KNOWLEDGE  AND  CHARACTER-BUILDING 50 

1.  Nature  Study  and  Character-building 50 

2.  Knowledge  Gained  in  Nature  Study 52 

Section  VII.    EXPRESSION  AND  GENERALIZATION 54 

1.  Expression  in  Nature  Study 54 

2.  Oral  Expression 57 

3.  Generalization  in  Nature  Study 58 

CHAPTER  III 

GENERAL  METHODS 

Section  VIII.    METHODS  OF  REASONING 66 

1.  The  Deductive  Method 66- 

2.  The  Inductive  Method 67 

3.  The  Inductive-Deductive  Method 70 

Section  IX.     GENERAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING 72 

1 .  The  Discovery  Method 72 

2.  The  Investigation  Method     73 

3.  The  Thumb-and-rule  Method 75 

4.  The  Text-book  and  Recitation  Method 77 

5.  The  Laboratory  Method 78 

6.  The  Socratic  Method.  . 80 

7.  The  Catechetical  or  Developmental  Method 81 

8.  The  Lecture  or  Telling  Method 82 

9.  The  Confirmation  Method. 83 

Section  X.    SPECIAL  METHOD  OF  TEACHING  NATURL  STUDY.  .  .  84 

Introduction 84 

1.  The  Object 85 

2.  The  Pupil 85 

3.  The  Method 86 


TENTATIVE  GENERALIZATIONS  AND  GUIDING 
PROPOSITIONS 

Section  XI.    GUIDE 93 

1.  Step  I-X 92 

2.  Program  for  Step  I. — Seeing 93 

3.  Program  for  Step  II. — Discussion 93 

4.  Program  for  Step  III. — Comparing 93 

5.  Program  for  Step  IV. — Field  Lesson 94 

6.  Program  for  Step  V. — Experimentation 94 

7.  Program  for  Step  VI. — Recitation 94 

8.  Program  for  Step  VII. — Supplementary  Informa- 

tion   95 

9.  Program  for  Step  VIII. — Representation 95 

10.  Program  for  Step  IX. — Written  Expression 95 

11.  Program  for  Step  X. — Reading 95 


Table  of  Contents  11 

CHAPTER  IV 

SUGGESTIONS    AND   COURSE  OF    STUDY 

PAGE 

Section  XII.    SUGGESTIONS  TO  THE  TEACHER no 

1.  On  the  Teacher's  Preparation no 

2.  On  Using  the  Guide no 

3.  The  Distinctive  Features  of  the  Method in 

4.  Some  Advantages  of  the  Method in 

5.  On  the  Order  of  Presentation 1 1 1 

6.  The  Steps  Outlined  in  the  Guide * 112 

7.  Rules  that  may  be  Useful 112 

8.  The  Pupil's  Interest 113 

9.  Planning  the  Work 113 

10.  The  Course  of  Study 114 

n.  How  Much  Work 114 

12.  No  Written  Examination 114 

13.  Course  of  Study  for  Primary  Grades 115 

14.  First  Primary  Method 114 

15.  Course  of  Study  for  Grammar  Grades 117 

Section  XIII.     SUGGESTIONS  ON  THE  STEPS 1 18 

I. — Seeing 118 

a.  The  First  Step 118 

1.  The  Gathering  of  Material 118 

2.  The  Teacher's  Duty  of  Collecting 1 18 

3.  The  First  Thing  to  do 118 

4.  Observing  an  Object 119 

5.  Too  Much  Should  not  be  Expected/ 119 

II. — Discussion 119 

b.  The  Second  Step 119 

1 .  Nature  is  Suggestive 120 

2.  Suggestive  Questions 120 

III. — Comparison 121 

c.  Step  Three 121 

1.  Facts  Properly  Assimilated 122 

2.  The  Means  to  Mental  Assimilation 122 

3.  The  Teacher 122 

COMPARATIVE  TABLES 124-131 

IV. — Field  Lesson 123 

d.  Step  Four 123 

1.  The  Field  Work  of  Step  Four 123 

2.  Nature  Study  Calendars 132 

SOME  PROBLEMS  FOR  OUTDOOR  STUDY 133 

1.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Man 133 

2.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Animals 133 

3.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Plants 134 

4.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Soil 134 

5.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Moisture 134 

6.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Light 135 

7.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Heat 135 

8.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Elevation 135 


Table  of  Contents 


V. — Experiments 136 

e.  The  Fifth  Step 136 

SOME  SIMPLE  EXPERIMENTS 136 

I.  On  Solutions 136 

II.  On  the  Reaction  of  Starch 136 

III.  On  Diffusion 136 

IV.  On  Evaporation 137 

V.  On  the  Effects  of  Heat 137 

VI.  On  Absorption 138 

VII.  On  the  Effects  of  Surface  Exposure 138 

VIII.  On  the  Rise  of  Liquids 1 39 

IX.  On  Transpiration 140 

X.  On  How  Transpiration  is  Regulated 140 

XI.  On  the  Parts  of  Stems  that  Convey  Sap 141 

XII.  On  Respiration 141 

XIII.  On  Germination 142 

XIV.  On  Tropisms,  Direction  of  Growth 142 

XV.  On  the  Influence  of  Environment 143 

/.  VI. — Recitation 143 

f.  VII. — Lecture 143 

.  VIII. — Drawing 145 

i.    IX. — Writing 148 

/.   X. — Reading 149 

CHAPTER  V 

EXAMPLES  OF   PUPILS*    WORK    IN  NATURE   STUDY. 

Section  XIV.  THE  APPLE-TREE 150 

Section  XV.     THE  GRASSHOPPER 156 

Section  XVI.  THE   SAGE-BRUSH    GALLS  AND    THEIR  INHABI- 
TANTS   1 68 

Section  XVII.  BIOLOGY  OF  THE  PARAMECIUM  . . . . . 175 

PART  II 

LIFE:    ITS     FORMS   AND   ITS    MANIFESTA- 
TIONS 

CHAPTER   I 

LIFE  OF   PLANTS  AND   ANIMALS 

Section  I.    INTRODUCTORY 187 

Section  II.  MICROSCOPIC  ORGANISMS 187 

1.  Algi 187 

2.  Fungi 188 

3.  Lichens 189 

4.  Bacteria 190 


Table  of  Contents  13 


5.  Distinction  between  Plants  and  Animals 192 

6.  The  Cell 193 

7.  Structure  of  the  Cell 196 

a.  Life  Phenomena  of  the  Cell 196 

b.  The  Germ-cell  or  Ovum 199 

c.  Heredity  and  Variation 201 

d.  Life  of  the  Complex  Organism .  202 

e.  Disease 203 

/.  The  Primitive  Mind 203 

Section  III.    THE  PRINCIPAL  FACTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  A 

FLOWERING  PLANT 204 

1.  Physiology  of  Absorption  and  Circulation 205 

2.  Transpiration, 206 

3.  Respiration 206 

4.  Assimilation 207 

5.  Growth 208 

6.  Reproduction 209 

7.  Heredity 209 

8.  Natural  Selection 209 

Section  IV.     SOME  IMPORTANT  FACTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  ANIMALS.  .  210 

1.  Fertilization 211 

2.  Segmentation 211 

3.  Formation  of  the  Embryo 211 

4.  Different  Kinds  of  Eggs 212 

5.  Tissues 213 

6.  Organs,  Systems,  and  Functions 213 

7.  Nutrition 213 

8.  Food 214 

9.  Digestion 215 

10.  Absorption  and  Circulation 216 

11.  The  Blood 216 

12.  The  Circulatory  System 216 

13.  The  Object  of  the  Circulation 217 

14.  Assimilation 217 

15.  Secretion 218 

16.  Excretion 218 

17.  Respiration 219 

18.  Sensation 220 

19.  Sense-organs 221 

20.  Development 222 

21.  Reflex  Action  and  Instinct 222 

CHAPTER  II 

THEORIES  OF  DEVELOPMENT 

Section  V.    ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT 223 

1.  The  Evolution  Theory 223 

2.  The  Interaction  Theory 226 

3.  The  Social  Theory ,,,,....,,...  227 


14  Table  of  Contents 


4.  The  Humanistic  Standpoint 228 

5.  The  Recapitulation  Theory 231 

Section  VI.    INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 233 

1.  Stages  in  the  Development  of  Thought 233 

2.  The  Old  Psychology 236 

3.  The  New  Psychology 238 

4.  Original  and  Borrowed  Ideas 242 

5.  Origin  of  Language 243 

6.  The  Use  of  Language 248 


CHAPTER  III 

SYSTEMATIC  ARRANGEMENT  OF  PLANT  AND  ANIMAL  FORMS 

Section  VII.    INTRODUCTORY 250 

i.  Naming  of  Plants  and  Animals 250 

Section  VIII.    CLASSIFICATION  OF  STRUCTURES,  FUNCTIONS,  AND 

ADAPTATIONS  OF  PLANTS 252 

1.  General  Analysis  of  Flowers 252 

2.  Adaptations  of  Flowers 255 

3.  Fertilization  of  Flowers 255 

4.  Fruit 256 

5.  Leaves 258 

6.  Roots 262 

7.  Stems 263 

8.  Cells  of  Plant  Tissues 266 

9.  Seeds 267 

10.  Soils  and  Germination  of  Seeds 270 

11.  Buds 270 

a.  Classification  of  Plants  (Flowering) 272 

b.  Classification  of  Cryptogams  (Flowerless) 273 

Section  IX.    CLASSIFICATION  OF  ANIMALS 275 

1.  METAZOA 275 

2.  Subkingdoms  and  Classes 275 

3.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Mammals 276 

4.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Birds 278 

5.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Reptiles 280 

6.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Amphibia 280 

7.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Fishes 281 

8.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Arachnida 282 

9.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Insects 282 

10.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Crustacea 283 

11.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Mollusks 284 

12.  Classes  and  Orders  of  Worms 285 

13.  Classes  and  Orders  of  Ecbinoderms 286 

14.  Classes,  Orders,  and  Genera  of  Ccelenterates  ....   288 

15.  Orders  and  Genera  of  Sponges 287 

1 6.  PROTOZOA — Classes,  Orders,  and  Genera 288 


Table  of  Contents  15 


CHAPTER  IV 

MATERIAL  AND    EQUIPMENT 

PAGE 

Section  X.    COLLECTING  AND  PRESERVING  MATERIAL 289 

1 .  For  Collecting  Plants 289 

2.  For  Preserving  Plants 289 

3.  For  Mounting  Specimens 290 

ANIMALS 290 

4.  For  Collecting  Animals 290 

5.  On  Raising  Flies,  Butterflies,  and  Moths 291 

6.  On  Killing  Insects 292 

7.  A  Collecting-net 293 

8.  Tools 293 

Section  XI.    REFERENCE  BOOKS  FOR  THE  TEACHER'S  LIBRARY  294 

1 .  Prose 294 

2.  Child  Literature 297 


part  1! 

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- 

EDUCATION  THROUGH  NATURE 


CHAPTER    I 
Introduction 

I.  Historical. 

That  period  in  the  history  of  western  civilization 
commonly  called  the  dark  ages  was  peculiar  for  the 
absence  of  those  startling  events  or  revolutions  of 
society  with  which  primitive  history  delights  to  deal. 
It  was  the  age  of  faith,  when  the  human  mind,  tak- 
ing things  for  granted  as  tradition  explained  them, 
felt  nothing  of  that  agitation  and  unrest  which  is  so 
essential  to  the  discovery  of  new  truths.  It  was  not, 
however,  a  barren  period.  Rather  the  adolescent 
period  of  the  race,  when,  regardless  of  conventional- 
ism and  art,  men  concerned  themselves,  not  with  the 
greater  universal  problems,  but  rather  with  the  little 
every-day  problems  which  their  close  contact  with 
nature  was  sure  to  occasion. 

In  that  close  contact  with  nature  there  doubtless 
was  promise  of  better  things.  That  rugged  physical 
strength,  that  knowledge  of  things,  and  that  power 
of  bravely  coping  with  natural  forces,  of  which  north- 
ern mythology  so  eloquently  speaks,  were  probably 
the  essential  conditions  for  that  richer  unfolding  of 
latent  powers,  that  fruitage,  which  first  began  to  appear 
at  the  time  of  the  renaissance.  Western  civilization 

19 


2o  Education  through  Nature 

has  often  been  traced  back  to  the  renaissance,  as  if 
all  the  preceding  ages  had  been  a  mere  blank  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  peoples  of  western  Europe. 
It  is  only  recently  that  it  is  being  realized  that  those 
obscure  centuries  were  really  the  maturing  age  in 
which  western  Europe  became  capable  of  that  remark- 
able awakening.  The  fact  that  the  splendid  Greek 
and  Roman  culture  was  so  eagerly  seized  upon  at  this 
time  by  the  people  of  western  Europe  testifies  to  a 
maturity  which  no  other  people  seems  to  have  possessed. 

The  importance  of  it  all,  in  this  connection,  lies  in 
the  fact  that  this  Greek  and  Roman  culture,  when 
once  discovered,  was  taken  to  be  the  climax  of  human 
achievement;  and  in  the  mistaken  notion  that  such 
culture  could  be  transferred  from  one  race  to  another, 
directly,  without  the  preliminary  process  of  growth. 
It  was  thought  that  culture  must  necessarily  be  trans- 
mitted with  the  language  of  those  civilized  peoples. 
Hence  all  mental  effort  was  turned  away  from  former 
subjects  relating  to  nature,  and  directed  towards  the 
acquisition  of  an  artificial  culture,  supposed  to  reside, 
like  a  hidden  virtue,  in  forms  and  symbols  of  thought. 
The  novelty  of  it  so  dazzled  the  mind  that  it  was  not 
perceived  that  the  races  in  which  this  culture  had 
developed  had  succumbed  to  the  very  effects  of  its 
artificial  and  enervating  influence.  The  study  of 
symbols  and  the  contemplation  of  forms  devoid  of 
actual  living  content,  so  sedulously  practiced  through- 
out the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  was  itself 
an  artificial  system,  which,  doubtless,  would  have 
ultimately  had  a  similar  effect,  even  if  real  classic 
culture  could  have  been  acquired  and  transmitted  in 
the  way  supposed.  The  Greeks  and  Romans,  them- 
selves, had  lived  the  life  and  breathed  the  very  air  of 
that  culture  which  their  imitators  were  trying  to 
resurrect  in  themselves  by  means  of  soulless  symbols. 

To  this  should  be  added  the  prevailing  conception 


Introduction  21 


that  man  is  the  center  of  the  universe.  Self-contem- 
plation and  self- absorption  thus  became  inevitable; 
the  testimony  of  the  senses  was  regarded  as  vulgar, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  seemed  to  point  to  man's  super- 
natural origin,  and  to  him  as  the  end  and  aim  of  all 
created  things.  There  is  food  for  reflection  in  the 
fact,  as  seen  in  the  history  of  science,  that  civilized 
man  has  willingly  lent  implicit  confidence  to  the 
testimony  of  the  senses  so  long  as  this  testimony 
seemed  to  flatter  his  self-esteem,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  sun  revolving  about  him,  but  has  obstinately 
refused  to  credit  such  testimony  when  less  favor- 
able to  his  dignity. 

Introspective  methods  of  observation,  together  with 
the  study  of  meaningless  and  empty  symbols,  not  only 
developed  visionary  systems  of  philosophy,  but  es- 
tranged man  more  and  more  from  the  natural  order 
of  things.  Developing  the  highly  artificial  concep- 
tion of  society  that  it  is  all  a  matter  of  purely  human 
invention,  having  no  foundation  in  nature,  where  no 
true  ethical  standards  can  be  found,  the  most  clever 
of  these  humanists  could  easily  justify  any  order  of 
existing  conditions,  by  inventing  systems  of  psychol- 
ogy, ethics,  and  philosophy,  yes,  even  science,  suited 
to  their  own  particular  proclivities  and  wants.  Social 
distinctions,  amounting  to  feudalism  on  the  one  hand 
and  human  slavery  on  the  other,  arose  and  were 
sanctioned  by  those  merely  clever  ones  who  thus 
unjustly  had  gained  an  artificial  supremacy. 

Not  all,  however,  were  thus  to  be  deceived.  Shift- 
ing standpoints  made  themselves  felt  when  Coperni- 
cus, Kepler,  Tycho  Brahe,  Newton,  and  Galileo  turned 
their  attention  to  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
and  the  laws  of  gravitation  and  force.  The  changes 
in  men's  fundamental  conceptions  of  the  universe, 
thus  early  initiated,  and  carried  forward  by  Bruno, 
Laplace,  Descartes,  Spinoza,  and  others,  were  finally 


Education  through  Nature 


completed  by  Darwin,  in  1859,   by  his  epoch-making 
work,  the  "  Origin  of  Species." 

In  politics  and  education,  too,  a  few  brave  souls, 
more  devoted  to  truth  and  justice  than  to  artificial 
distinctions,  began  the  difficult  task  of  reforming 
society,  and  making  social,  political,  and  educational 
activities  conform  more  to  the  laws  of  nature.  Bacon, 
in  his  "Novum  Organum"  and  "Advancement  of  Learn- 
ing," had  pointed  out  the  errors  to  which  the  human 
U  mind  is  liable  when  wholly  divorced  from  nature; 
and  had  suggested  the  proper  inductive  method  of 
studying  nature.  Rousseau  had  given  the  cry  "back 
to  nature"  in  such  a  way  that  it  could  hardly  be  ignored. 
Locke  had  laid  the  foundations  for  the  new  psychology, 
and  Pestalozzi  had  attempted  a  practical  realization 
of  a  natural  method  in  teaching. 

There  is,  of  course,  room  for  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  how  far  reformers  are  the  product  of  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  or  how  far  that  spirit  is  due  to  reformers. 
But,  in  any  case,  the  benefits  of  the  movement,  thus 
initiated,  in  turning  men's  attention  back  to  nature 
were  realized  in  the  progress  of  literature,  arts,  and 
science  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Meaning  of  the  "  Back-to-Nature  "  Movement. 

It  is  important  to  note,  in  the  movement  sketched 

above,  the  following  stages  of  development  :  (i)  Europe, 

/during  the  first  centuries,  was  still  in  a  state  of  semi- 

/  barbarism.     So  closely  were  these  nations  united  to 

J  nature   that  their  mythology  is  but  a  personification 

of  it.     Gods  and  giants,  such  as  Thor,  Balder,  Freya, 

and  Hoder,  personifying  the  forces  of  nature,  were  the 

imaginary  beings   residing  in  Thunder,  Spring,  and 

Winter  and  determining  men's  fortunes  and  fates.     (2) 

Then   came   the   age   of   faith.     The   acceptance   of 

Christianity,  which  had  been  developed  in  a  sunnier 

clime,    among   a   people   who   were   less   profoundly 


Introduction  23 


impressed  by  the  forces  of  nature,  and  given  to  a  less 
eventful  life  and  consequently  more  contemplative 
habits,  can  be  explained  only  on  the  supposition  of  a 
gradual  emancipation  of  the  western  mind,  and  an 
increased  capacity  for  abstract  generalization.  The 
acceptance  of  monotheism  involves  such  capacity. 

(3)  The  renaissance   shows   a  greater  emancipation, 
and  a  higher  capacity  of  the  mind  to  deal  in  abstrac- 
tions ;  otherwise  Greek  and  Roman  culture  could  have 
appealed  to  the  European  mind  no  more  strongly  than 
to    the    minds    of    other    peoples    similarly    exposed. 

(4)  Finally,  the  return  to  nature  was  not  a  sudden 
revolution,  though  it  culminated  in  the  French  Revo- 
lution, but  a  growth  of  years  and  decades. 

These  steps  may,  doubtless,  be  natural  steps  in 
mental  evolution.  It  is  only  after  these  phases  had 
been  passed  through,  when  the  peoples  of  western 
Europe  had  become  aware  of  the  knowledge  and 
arts  of  the  human  race  as  a  whole,  that  development 
of  science  in  the  modern  sense  was  possible.  This 
may  also  be  true,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  the  individual. 
It  is  doubtless  true  that  to  pass  from  childhood  into 
the  purely  scientific  stage  would  be  to  abridge  the 
natural  course  of  development.  Had  Europe  re- 
mained in  the  earliest  phase  of  development,  we  could 
have  had  no  greater  control  over  nature  to-day  than 
have  the  savages  of  central  Africa  or  the  American 
Indian.  Had  Europe  remained  in  the  humanistic 
stage  of  the  seventeenth  century,  modern  science 
would  have  been  as  little  developed  among  us  as  it 
is  among  the  Hindoos.  Hindooism  is  a  clear  case 
of  arrested  development;  and  there  are  many  among 
Europeans  even  now  who  are  at  the  point  of  that 
stagnation  when  the  mind  seeks  its  activities  in  sense- 
less occultism.  The  caste  system  of  India  shows 
what  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  when  divorced 
from  nature.  It  is  the  desire  and  aim  of  the  Hindoo 


24  Education  through  Nature 

Brahmin  so  far  to  emancipate  himself  from  nature 
as  even  to  torture  his  own  body,  in  order  that  he  may 
be  released  from  it,  and  be  merged  into  an  eternal 
unconsciousness,  called  Nirvana.  Modern  science 
has  no  attractions  for  him.  The  Hindoo  is  a  fair 
sample  of  what  a  failure  to  return  to  nature  means. 
Nirvana  is  a  state  outside  the  realm  of  natural  law. 

The  western  mind,  notwithstanding  the  renaissance, 
did  not  become  so  thoroughly  artificial.  The  great 
variety  of  natural  features,  such  as  climate,  relief, 
coast  line,  and  water  communication,  which  con- 
tributed so  considerably  to  the  development  of  Greek 
and  Roman  civilization  by  their  interactions,  was 
felt  throughout  all  Europe,  and  gave  rise  to  that  com- 
merce and  intercommunication  between  different 
races  which  has  always  tended  to  develop  the  prac- 
tical side  of  man's  powers. 

The  return  to  nature  was,  therefore,  not  a  return 
to  barbarism,  but  rather  the  application  of  the  mind 
to  nature,  after  that  mind  had  won  its  freedom  and 
mastered  the  arts  of  culture.  //  meant  an  appeal  to 
nature  for  standards  wherewith  to  guide  the  liberated 
mind;  for  the  mind,  being  not  wholly  a  law  unto  itself, 
but  necessarily  related  to  things  outside  itself,  must 
conform  to  that  which  it  would  understand  and  master. 
Men  thus  learned  to  know  nature  in  the  light  of  free- 
dom. Democracy  became  possible  when  this  freedom 
of  the  mind  enabled  it  to  grasp  the  ethical  idea  which 
nature  teaches  in  its  interdependence,  and  which  is, 
at  bottom,  in  accord  with  the  ethics  of  Christianity. 
In  such  society  of  freemen,  made  stable  by  the  recog- 
nition of  ethical  laws,  the  development  of  modern 
science  became  possible. 

Science  and  Culture. 

Science  is  often  spoken  of  as  a  social  product.  In 
the  first  place,  no  single  individual  is  able  to  master 


Introduction  25 


all  modern  science.  In  the  second  place,  modern 
science  is  to  a  certain  extent  the  result  of  cooperative 
effort.  Science,  therefore,  presupposes  organized  so- 
ciety, and  that  implies  more  or  less  of  human  culture. 
Specialization,  which  must  necessarily  exist  in  any 
highly  organized  society,  implies  a  diversity  of  human 
activities,  and  such  diversity  requires  more  or  less  of 
science.  We  can  hardly,  therefore,  separate  science 
from  culture  or  culture  from  science,  as  is  so  fre- 
quently attempted,  by  those  who  look  upon  science 
as  something  inferior  if  not  positively  degrading. 
Weak  and  silly  minds  often  betray  this  prejudice 
against  science. 

If  we  define  science  as  knowledge  reduced  to  a  sys- 
tem, it  is  evident  that,  taking  the  world  as  a  whole,  no 
single  individual  is  equal  to  the  task,  and  that  such 
classification  is  possible  only  in  a  comparatively  stable 
society.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  science  is 
the  ripest  fruit  of  man's  intellectual  development. 
The  history  of  human  civilization  makes  that  evident. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that 
science  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  creation  of 
those  conditions  which  made  the  higher  development 
of  science  possible.  Knowledge  of  nature  and  her 
laws  must  always  have  been  the  basis  on  which  human 
culture  has  advanced.  Temporary  or  prolonged  dis- 
regard of  nature,  and  an  absorption  in  an  artificial 
atmosphere  of  art,  as  in  the  case  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
has  always  ended  in  degeneration  and  decay.  The 
reason  for  this  is,  perhaps,  that  art  can  have  no  stand- 
ard as  a  guide  if  nature  is  ignored.  Man  can  improve 
on  nature  only  by  taking  nature  as  a  model.  By 
knowing  nature  we  can  lead  her  where  we  will,  but 
she  will  not  be  coerced.  Applied  science,  such  as 
the  locomotive  and  the  telegraph,  consists  chiefly  in 
putting  one  natural  force  against  another  in  such  a 
way  as  to  enable  the  stronger  force  to  overcome  the 


26  Education  through  Nature 

weaker.  Pure  science  enables  us  to  put  things  to- 
gether in  such  a  way  as  to  make  natural  forces  minis- 
ter to  our  wants.  It  is  largely  by  thus  ministering 
to  human  wants  that  nature,  in  the  harness  of  science, 
has  enabled  us  to  rise  from  one  level  to  another  in  the 
scale  of  culture.  Having  mastered  the  little  problems, 
we  have  been  made  free  to  occupy  ourselves  with 
larger  ones. 

If  this  is  true  of  society  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  equally 
true  of  the  individual,  namely,  that  science  and  art 
must  be  acquired  together,  in  order  to  enable  the  indi- 
vidual to  appreciate  the  highest  culture,  and  finally  be 
capable  of  the  pursuit  of  science  for  its  own  sake. 

II.  Stages  in  Human  Culture. 

Economic  Stages.  Human  society,  culture  and 
science,  are  the  results  of  slow  growth.  Changes  are 
sometimes  brought  about  by  revolutions  that  are  the 
results  of  great  discoveries.  Such  events,  however, 
as,  for  instance,  the  discovery  of  America,  are  them- 
selves the  result  of  slow  changes  and  accretions  to 
human  knowledge  which  are  often  overlooked  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  magnitude  of  the  event. 

Nevertheless,  in  a  general  view  of  human  develop- 
ment, there  can  be  distinguished  certain  stages  that 
are  characterized  by  some  feature  not  so  marked  in 
other  stages.  Thus  from  the  point  of  view  of  economics 
the  following  stages  are  noticeable: 

i.  The  Hunting  Stage.  Men  with  scarcely  any 
social  relations  wander  about  over  large  areas  of  the 
earth's  surface  in  search  of  what  food  nature  produces 
spontaneously.  There  is  no  permanent  abode,  and 
hence  no  stores  laid  by  for  a  "  rainy  day."  Each  day 
brings  its  own  joy  or  care,  it  may  be  plenty,  it  may  be 
want.  Tools,  of  the  crudest  material  and  construc- 
tion, like  the  bow  and  flint  arrow,  were  the  only  prop- 
erty possessed  by  these  savages. 


Introduction  27 


2.  The  Fishing  Stage.     Men  were  now  capable  of 
slightly  more  settled  conditions;   a  rude  hut  served  for 
shelter;  and  a  few  families  were  aggregated  into  the 
nucleus  of  a  primitive  community.     A  constant  supply 
of  food  and  the  conditions  for  procuring  it  developed 
some  idea  of  laying  by  stores  and  of  possessing  crude 
property. 

3.  The    Pastoral    Stage.    Animals    were    domesti- 
cated and  taken  care  of,  thus  affording  abundance  of 
food,  and  an  incentive  to  increase  flocks  and  herds. 
Men  were  aggregated  into  tribes,  having  patriarchs  or 
chiefs,  and  the  first  beginnings  of  a  patriarchal  gov- 
ernment.    Hands  are  now  busy  building  temporary 
tents,  making  matting  and  basket-work,  tanning  skins, 
making  yarn,  and  weaving  various  fabrics  for  domestic 
use.     Stranger  is  synonymous  with  enemy;  and  bloody 
conflicts  with  encroaching  intruders  are  frequent.     A 
dreamy  life,  too,  this  is,  when  the  first  beginnings  of 
science,  art,  and  philosophy  make  their  appearance. 

4.  The  Agricultural  Stage.     Permanent  relation  with 
the  soil  is  now  secured.     The  cultivation  of  the  soil 
is  really  a  process  of  domesticating  plants.     In  that 
way  they  can  be  made  to  increase  more  rapidly  than 
in  a  state  of  nature,  and  thus  furnish  more  abundant 
pasture  for  the  flocks  of  the  preceding  stage,  more 
abundance  of  food  for  man,  and  more  raw  material 
with  which  to  develop  the  various  domestic  arts,  such 
as  cooking,  spinning,  weaving,  carpentering,  etc. 

Dependence  upon  nature  is  still  very  marked  Rain 
and  sunshine  are  necessary  to  a  good  crop,no  matter 
how  well  the  soil  is  plowed  and  cultivated.  Yet 
increased  rewards  for  diligence  are  more  certain  here 
than  in  former  stages;  and  the  incentive  to  bodily 
exertion  is  considerable.  Inventions  are  now  often 
found  to  be  useful;  and  man's  ingenuity  is  taxed  to 
increase  the  area  of  cultivated  land  without  increasing 
the  amount  of  necessary  labor. 


28  Education  through  Nature 

The  care  of  animals,  and  the  cultivation  of  plants, 
lead  to  an  intimate  knowledge  of  biological  laws,  such 
as  can  be  gained  through  experience  alone.  This 
empirical  knowledge  never  becomes  scientific,  how- 
ever, as  it  is  acquired  unconsciously  and  incidentally 
rather  than  intentionally.  Yet  it  is  doubtless  to  such 
empirical  knowledge  of  plants  and  animals,  of  the  de- 
pendence of  the  seasons  upon  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  of  qualities  of  soil  as  being  deter- 
mined by  its  chemical  and  organic  ingredients,  etc.., 
that  modern  science  owes  its  beginning. 

5.  The  Industrial  and  Commercial  Stage.  This 
stage  is  characterized  by  a  high  specialization  of 
economic  activities.  Much  of  the  domestic  manufac- 
ture of  the  agricultural  stage  is  now  given  over  to 
special  manufacturing  agencies.  Country  life  is  re- 
stricted to  few  kinds  of  work.  By  the  invention  of 
machinery,  farm  life  is  reduced  to  a  mere  routine  of 
sowing  and  harvesting.  Work,  other  than  this  of 
sowing  and  reaping  and  feeding  of  stock,  is  trans- 
ferred to  factories,  around  which  spring  up  great 
centers  of  population.  These  are  often  entirely  cut 
off  from  the  rural  districts,  save  by  a  highly  artificial 
system  of  transportation  and  exchange. 

Within  these  centers  of  population  all  is  art  in  the 
sense  that  very  few  of  the  original  physical  conditions, 
such  as  soil,  water,  pure  air,  and  sunshine,  remain. 
Labor  is  specialized.  The  individual  is  narrowed  to 
the  mechanical  performance  of  a  single  kind  of  work, 
exercising  perhaps  only  a  limited  number  of  faculties. 
It  is  in  these  centers  of  population,  amid  the  nervous 
stress  of  a  highly  developed  commercial  life  and  of  a 
highly  complex  social  life,  that  the  need  for  a  return 
to  nature  is  most  strongly  felt.  None,  however,  realize 
fully  the  effects  of  these  enervating  influences  who 
have  never  known  what  country  life  and  real  personal 
contact  with  nature  is. 


Introduction  29 


Probable  Causes  of  the  Back-to-Nature  Movement  in 
Education. 

Schools  are  comparatively  modern  inventions.  The 
necessity  for  education  has  no  doubt  been  discovered 
by  the  race  in  its  struggle  for  existence.  Economic 
conditions  are  extremely  important  factors  in  human 
life,  causing  changes  in  social  conditions  by  which 
a  multitude  of  new  wants  arise,  and  many  new  and 
unexpected  requisites  for  the  satisfaction  of  those 
wants  become  necessary.  Then,  too,  varying  needs 
give  rise  to  new  ideals  in  the  pursuit  of  which  indi- 
vidual habits  and  social  customs  are  formed.  Fashion 
can  be  explained  very  satisfactorily  from  an  economic 
standpoint;  and  educational  theories  and  practice 
are  not  wholly  free  from  a  taint  of  utilitarianism  in 
some  strata  of  human  society. 

The  struggle  for  existence  assumed  a  new  phase 
when  the  race  advanced  to  the  higher  social  stages. 
In  the  savage  stage  it  was  necessary  in  the  struggle 
for  existence  to  possess  physical  strength,  courage, 
endurance,  and  skill  in  handling  rude  weapons  of 
defense  and  offense  in  battle.  Hence  the  youth  was 
trained  with  these  ends  in  view  chiefly  by  the  parent. 

In  the  barbarous  stages  the  struggle  for  existence 
demanded  some  power  of  associated  action  in  war, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  earth's  surface  where  pasture 
and  water  for  the  flocks  could  be  found;  as  well  as 
some  knowledge  of  astronomy  by  which  the  seasons 
of  the  year  could  be  foretold.  Hence  such  education 
as  the  Arabs,  for  instance,  have  to-day. 

The  agricultural  stage  requires  a  knowledge  of  the 
soil,  of  stock,  of  machinery,  of  the  vernacular  language 
of  the  community,  besides  reading,  writing,  spelling, 
and  ciphering.  In  the  agricultural  stage  this  is  the 
limit  of  education  absolutely  required,  and  hence  often 
the  extent  of  schooling  which  even  the  farmer  boy  of 
to-day  receives. 


30  Education  through  Nature 

The  struggle  for  existence  in  the  commercial  stage 
of  social  development  required  this  and  much  more. 
Physical  prowess  was  not  now  so  essential  as  intellectual 
acumen.  The  highest  intellectual  training  was,  there- 
fore, sought  as  the  one  essential  qualification  for  success. 

With  the  increased  specialization  of  society  and  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  and  luxury,  the  fine  arts  also 
developed.  Even  amid  such  surroundings  a  human 
struggle  for  existence,  of  a  subtle  kind,  exists;  but 
the  struggle  is  now  transferred  from  the  physical  to 
the  intellectual.  Men  no  longer  use  their  fists  as 
weapons,  but  wound  the  sensibilities  of  their  adver- 
saries by  secret  thrusts  and  subtle  sarcasm  and  win 
their  victories  by  shrewd  diplomacy,  clever  calcula- 
tion, and  insidious  connivances.  Hence  all  those  intel- 
lectual accomplishments  of  oratory,  dialectics,  and 
foreign  languages  which  enable  the  possessor  to 
influence  and  control  other  men's  minds  became  the 
ideal  of  education. 

This  was  finally  carried  so  far  that  a  conventional 
system  of  professions,  beliefs,  and  practices  having  no 
foundation  in  nature  and  often  in  direct  violation  of 
fundamental  natural  laws,  pervaded  the  school  and 
society  alike.  Labor  and  practical  affairs  were  looked 
upon  as  vulgar,  and  the  secluded  scholar  delving  in 
old  manuscripts  within  a  monastery  or  writing  Latin 
sermons  in  prose  or  poetry  for  the  edification  of  the 
ignorant  multitudes  became  the  worshiped  idol  of  the 
hour.  It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  in 
England,  for  instance,  during  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  next  to  the  court  fool,  the  subtle  masters 
of  dialectics  and  the  most  consummate  diplomatists, 
if  not  liars,  were  socially  the  elite  of  the  realm.  Hu- 
manism had  thus  reached  its  climax. 

A  few  strong  natures,  either  suffering  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  this  artificial  and  really  unpractical 
training  in  their  struggle  for  existence,  or  else  true  to 


Introduction  31 


their  better  moral  natures,  became  painfully  conscious 
of  this  depraved  state  of  affairs,  and  began  to  utter 
vigorous  protests  against  the  whole  social  system. 
Back  to  nature  became  the  watchword.  • 

Besides  these  reformers,  there  were  less  obvious 
though  more  potent  forces  turning  men's  minds  to 
the  reality  of  things.  The  development  of  wants 
accompanying  social  integration  and  social  differen- 
tiation led  the  strongest  minds  to  employ  themselves 
with  the  solution  of  those  problems  which  would  tend 
to  satisfy  those  larger  wants  of  society  as  opposed  to 
individual  wants.  Humanistic  acumen  turned  its 
attention  to  nature,  testing  the  metaphysical  system 
of  human  beliefs  and  the  artificial  practices  of  their 
age  by  skillful  observation  and  experiment.  The 
remarkable  results  of  this  method  in  discovering 
means  whereby  to  control  the  physical  forces  of  nature 
gave  a  renewed  impetus  to  the  growth  of  science.  In 
the  presence  of  modern  science,  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence has  again  been  shifted,  and  other  qualifications 
are  now  essential  in  that  struggle;  hence  shifting 
standpoints  and  new  ideals.  The  idol  now  is  no  longer 
the  secluded  scholar,  but  rather  a  "rough  rider "  or 
the  president  of  a  steel  trust. 

If  we  consider  the  remarkable  complexity  of  social 
structure  at  the  present  time,  where  each  individual 
must  have  a  special  fitness  for  special  work,  or  be  an 
outcast  of  society,  we  can  readily  understand  that,  while 
the  forces  of  social  evolution  have  from  time  to  time 
caused  shifting  standpoints,  and  the  changing  needs  in 
the  struggle  for  existence  have  caused  changing  ideals, 
these  latter,  in  turn,  tend  to  produce  varying  needs. 

The  needs  arising  from  the  struggle  for  existence 
are  now  chiefly  physical  and  intellectual.  To  be 
able  successfully  to  satisfy  such  wants,  physical  and 
intellectual  training  are  of  course  essential.  Applied 
science  thus  becomes  a  prominent  factor  in  education. 


32  Education  through  Nature 

But  ideals  will  not  be  materialized,  and  they  conse- 
quently create  wants  that  do  not  refer  so  much  to 
the  grosser  struggle  for  existence  as  to  the  enjoyment 
of  the  higher  pleasures  of  the  spiritual  life.  The 
enjoyment  of  the  good,  the  beautiful,  and  the  true 
are  needs  which  every  normal  human  being  must 
feel  as  soon  as  released  from  the  relentless  grasp  of 
nature  by  a  successful  struggle  for  material  existence. 

Moral  education  becomes,  therefore,  an  essential 
element  of  the  ideal  education.  Our  relation  to  the 
whole  as  parts  of  the  infinite  must  ultimately  be  the 
problem  of  every  sane  mind  which  has  seriously  strug- 
gled for  intellectual  emancipation. 

Montesquieu,  in  his  "  Spirit  of  Laws/7  treats  law  not 
as  regards  its  content,  but  rather  as  regards  its  rela- 
tion to  various  grades  of  human  society.  Is  it  true 
that  the  relation  of  one  thing  to  another  which  is  too 
subtle  to  be  stated  in  physical  terms,  too  obscure  to 
be  but  vaguely  or  not  at  all  comprehended  by  us,  is 
what  we  mean  by  the  spiritual?  The  development 
of  the  biological  and  social  sciences,  and  especially 
the  theory  of  evolution,  enables  us  better  to  appreci- 
ate the  importance  of  the  relationships  of  things, 
especially  the  interdependence  of  human  beings  and 
their  vital  relation  to  lower  creatures.  The  social 
side  of  education  is  being  emphasized  as  never  before. 
One  excuse  for  the  introduction  of  nature  study  is 
that  it  promotes  this  social  adjustment  by  developing  a 
keen  interest  in  living  things,  and  a  sympathy  with  things 
that  are  not  immediately  objects  of  personal  selfishness. 

Finally,  the  breaking  up  of  feudalism,  the  abolition 
of  human  slavery,  and  the  spread  of  democracy  are 
only  so  many  evidences  of  a  powerful  tendency  of 
even  the  human  mind  to  conform  to  the  laws  which 
nature  in  its  universal  interdependence  teaches.  The 
works  of  man  crumble  and  decay,  and  only  that  is 
enduring  which  embodies  the  eternal  laws  of  nature. 


CHAPTER   II 
General   Aims   of  Nature  Study 

III.    Introductory. 

The  most  general  aim  of  nature  study  in  schools  is 
to  promote  normal  development.  More  particularly, 
it  aims  to  place  the  pupil  amid  such  influences  as 
the  laws  of  human  society,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
laws  of  nature,  on  the  other,  prescribe  for  the  final 
realization,  in  the  pupil,  of  the  higher  ideals.  Nature 
study  is  not  intended  to  supplant  the  ideals  of  culture. 
It  is  intended  to  lay  such  a  foundation  in  body  and  in 
mind  as  shall  render  the  realization  of  social  ideals 
possible. 

The  achievements  of  the  human  race  during  past 
ages  are  not  to  be  ignored.  Traces  of  these  achieve- 
ments are  to  be  found  in  written  records,  sculpture, 
painting,  music,  and  in  social  and  political  institu- 
tions. Nature  study  aims  to  lay  that  foundation  in 
the  plastic  mind  and  body  that  will  enable  the  pupil 
to  appropriate  these  treasures  of  the  past,  and  to  add, 
perhaps,  something  out  of  his  own  life  to  the  sum  of 
human  happiness,  the  sum  of  human  knowledge, 
and  the  sum  of  human  achievement.  Thus  nature 
study  is  not  for  dispensing  with  the  art  of  reading, 
but  rather  to  make  intelligent  reading  possible;  not 
to  dispense  with  writing  or  arithmetic,  but  rather  to 
make  these  something  more  than  mere  imitation  of 
muscular  movements  and  manipulation  of  symbols 
with  no  content.  In  short,  nature  study  is  intended 


34  Education  through  Nature 

to  lay  the  foundations  of  all  arts  and  sciences,  by  afford- 
ing that  experience  with  nature  on  which  all  art  and 
science  depend. 

Emerson  could  not  be  accused  of  materialism,  nor 
of  a  bias  towards  realism,  nor  of  dogmatic  adherence 
to  a  philosophical  system.  He  says:  "Words  are 
signs  of  natural  facts.  The  use  of  the  outer  creation 
is  to  give  us  language  for  the  beings  and  changes  of 
the  inward  creation.  Every  word  which  is  used  to 
express  a  moral  or  intellectual  fact,  if  traced  to  its 
root,  is  found  to  be  borrowed  from  some  material 
appearance.  Right  means  straight;  wrong  'means 
twisted.  Spirit,  primarily,  means  wind ;  transgression, 
the  crossing  of  a  line;  supercilious,  the  raising  of  the 
eyebrow.  We  say  the  heart  to  express  emotion;  the 
head  to  denote  thought;  and  thought  and  emotion 
are  words  borrowed  from  sensible  things,  and  now 
appropriated  to  spiritual  nature.  Most  of  the  process 
by  which  this  transformation  is  made  is  hidden  from 
us,  in  the  remote  time  when  language  was  framed; 
but  the  same  tendency  may  be  daily  observed  in 
children.  .  .  .  When  simplicity  of  character  and 
the  sovereignty  of  ideas  is  broken  up  by  the  preva- 
lence of  secondary  desires — the  desire  of  riches,  of 
pleasure,  of  power,  and  of  praise — and  duplicity  and 
falsehood  take  the  place  of  simplicity  and  truth,  the 
power  over  nature,  as  an  interpreter  of  the  will,  is  in 
a  degree  lost;  new  imagery  ceases  to  be  created,  and 
old  words  are  perverted  to  stand  for  things  which  are 
not;  a  paper  currency  is  employed  when  there  is  no 
bullion  in  the  vaults.  Hundreds  of  writers  may  be 
found  in  every  long- civilized  nation  who  for  a  short 
time  believe,  and  make  others  believe,  that  they  see 
and  utter  truths  who  do  not  themselves  clothe  one 
thought  in  its  natural  garment,  but  who  feed  uncon- 
sciously on  the  language  created  by  the  primary  writers 
of  the  country — those^  namely,  who  hold  primarily  on 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         35 

nature.     But  wise  men  pierce  this  rotten  diction  and 
fasten  words  again  to  visible  things." 

Nature  study  aims  to  prevent  that  rotten  diction 
of  which  Emerson  speaks,  and  to  guard  also  against 
that  intellectual  bankruptcy  which  compels  the  use 
of  a  paper  currency  because  there  is  no  bullion  in  the 
vaults. 

Ideals  and  Culture  in  Nature  Study. 

The  reaction  theory  recognizes  the  relation  exist- 
ing between  all  things,  the  relation  of  man  to  man 
and  to  the  physical  universe.  This  relation  is  sup- 
posed to  be  one  of  action  and  reaction.  It,  therefore, 
avoids  the  extremes  of  the  preformed- evolution  theory, 
the  complete  isolation  of  the  mind  as  in  the  humanistic 
standpoint,  or  the  extreme,  practical  view  of  motor 
activity  of  the  social  theory.  (See  Part  II,  Sec.  III.) 

Interaction  is  supposed  to  result  in  gradual  change 
whereby  complete  adaptation  to  environment  is  se- 
cured. Adaptation  to  human  environment  means 
culture.  The  reaction  whereby  this  harmony  be- 
tween man  and  man  is  established  is  a  nervous  reac- 
tion, and  involves  the  development  of  acute  sensibility 
to  all  those  influences  which  human  society  exerts. 
Acuteness  and  delicacy  in  sense-organs  and  quick 
cerebral  response  to  every  peripheral  stimulation  are 
essential  to  this  social  adjustment.  Physical  defects 
in  these  respects,  such  as  general  sluggishness  of  the 
nervous  system,  may  possibly  be  the  reason  why  some 
human  beings  seem  incapable  of  that  social  adjust- 
ment which  we  call  culture. 

Delicate  nervous  organization  is  apt  to  result  in 
nervous  tension  due  to  overreaction  in  nervous  re- 
sponse. Hence  the  too-frequent  enervating  influence 
of  higher  forms  of  culture. 

A  constant  necessity  for  reaction  leads  to  striving 
after  relief — a  longing  for  something  better  than  now 


36  Education  through  Nature 

exists  in  which  the  weary  soul  may  rest.  Herein  is 
the  foundation  of  the  religious  sentiment.  Then,  too, 
the  realization  of  better  conditions,  such  as  partial  or 
total  relief  from  the  strain  and  stress  of  the  struggle 
for  existence,  which  man,  in  virtue  of  social  effort,  is 
able  to  bring  about,  leads  to  the  hope  for  still  better 
things  in  the  future.  It  is  doubtless  from  this  sense 
of  fatigue  and  from  the  sense  of  relief  being  brought 
about  by  well-directed  effort  that  the  hope  of  a  future 
life  of  happiness  and  our  ethical  and  social  ideals 
arise.  Whatever  tends  to  ameliorate  our  condition 
in  this  strenuous  life,  whether  the  result  of  modified 
external  conditions  or  the  result  of  our  augmented 
strength  to  meet  obligations  or  to  overcome  difficulties, 
tends  to  elevate  our  ideals  and  spurs  us  on  in  pursuit 
of  better  things.  These  better  things  are  our  ideals. 
It  must  be  self-evident,  therefore,  that  whatever  tends 
to  weaken  or  degrade  us  whether  mentally  or  physically 
tends  also  to  lower  our  ideals  and  vice  versa.  Indi- 
vidual and  social  decay  have  their  concomitant  low 
ideals. 

Therefore,  whatever  promotes  the  normal  devel- 
opment of  the  individual,  body,  mind,  and  soul,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  enable  him  to  meet  successfully  that  strain 
and  stress  which  his  relation  to  his  fellow  beings  and 
to  the  physical  universe  brings,  tends  also  to  elevate 
his  ideals.  Ideals  arc  not  things  floating  in  the  air 
like  butterflies  to  be  caught  and  identified  by  a  name 
or  a  symbol,  but  the  promise  within  us  of  better  things 
because  of  our  growth  towards  that  which  is  ideally 
good.  Humanism  in  its  strength  had  high  ideals, 
but  those  ideals  vanished  with  the  decline  and  fall. 

High  ideals  can  be  used,  therefore,  as  a  standard 
by  which  to  measure  the  quality  and  character  of 
development;  and  it  is  self-evident  that  educational 
influences,  whatever  they  may  be,  which  have  the 
effect  of  lowering  our  ideals  must  be  guarded  against. 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         37 

Exclusive  development  of  the  body  has  such  an  effect, 
because  it  lowers  the  individual's  power  to  meet  the 
demands  of  culture,  in  which  the  mind  is  so  largely 
concerned.  Similarly  with  the  exclusive  develop- 
ment of  the  mind,  for  it  lessens  the  individual's  capacity 
to  bear  the  strain  and  stress  of  the  highest  culture  and 
the  struggle  involved  in  the  attainment  of  aims. 

The  Senses  in  Nature  Study. 

All  the  special  senses,  hearing,  seeing,  taste,  smell, 
touch,  including  the  muscular  sense,  may  be  used  in 
the  study  of  nature.  These  senses  are  evidently  de- 
veloped for  that  very  purpose,  or  (if  we  choose  to 
avoid  the  teleological  conception)  are  developed 
through  those  agencies  of  which  they  take  cognizance. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  any  mind  whatsoever  in 
the  absence  of  these  senses.  We  may  well  doubt 
whether  one  devoid  of  all  of  them  could  really  be  con- 
scious of  his  own  existence.  Imagine  all  the  avenues 
to  the  external  world  closed  in  a  child  at  birth!  Could 
even  innate  ideas,  so  called,  manifest  themselves  ? 

Our  knowledge  of  the  early  stages  of  development 
does  not  tend  to  strengthen  our  belief  in  the  existence 
of  innate  ideas.  The  existence  of  such  ideas  has  been 
affirmed  on  metaphysical  grounds,  by  those  usually 
who  are  devoid  of  scientific  training.  Transcendental- 
ism of  that  kind  may  be  left  to  find  its  own  way  in 
the  senseless  limbo  of  metaphysical  abstractions.  It 
has  little  or  no  use  for  nature  study  except  as  it  may 
minister  to  physical  wants;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  even  transcendentalism  could  maintain  itself 
without  those  sense-organs  which  it  professes  to  de- 
preciate. 

The  possibility  of  ideas  certainly  exists  in  the  normal 
nervous  system  developed  through  physiological  pro- 
cesses; but  it  is  hardly  probable  that  this  possibility 
can  be  realized  except  through  external  stimuli.  It 


38  Education  through  Nature 

is  through  these  that  the  nervous  system  is  made  func- 
tional. As  motion  is  the  function  of  muscle,  so  mind 
and  consciousness  appear  to  be  the  function  of  the 
brain.  In  the  latter  as  in  the  former  the  function 
ceases  to  manifest  itself  when  the  organ  is  injured  or 
destroyed. 

Anatomically  the  sense-organs  are  the  peripheral 
portions  of  the  central  nervous  system.  They  are  the 
avenues  through  which  the  brain  is  influenced  by 
the  external  world.  Subjective,  physical  states  of 
internal  organs,  no  doubt,  may  influence  the  brain 
and  thus  modify,  in  various  ways,  the  mental  activity. 
But  with  the  senses  closed,  as  the  eye  in  sleep,  the 
mental  life  becomes  essentially  a  dream-life.  Intuitive 
ideas  are  sometimes  called  regulative  ideas.  Con- 
sidering the  important  difference  between  sleeping 
and  waking,  the  sense-organs  might  properly  be  called 
regulative  organs.  For  it  is  by  means  of  them  that  we 
are  able  to  distinguish  between  hallucinations  and 
dreams,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  saner  ideas  arising 
through  our  real  experience  with  the  external  world  on 
the  other. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  practically  all  the  advance 
in  human  knowledge,  to  which  the  past  century  has 
so  largely  contributed,  has  been  gained  through  a 
more  diligent  use  of  the  senses  than  was  common 
among  people  of  earlier  ages.  Their  systematic  use, 
aided  by  that  concomitant  power  of  correct  inference, 
has  not  only  influenced  educational  theories,  but  has 
changed  the  philosophy  and  way  of  thinking  of  all 
western  peoples.  Compare  these  with  the  dreamy 
oriental  peoples  and  the  contrast  is  striking. 

Inventions,  like  the  telescope,  the  microscope,  and 
the  spectroscope,  have  revealed  new  worlds  because 
of  the  aid  which  they  give  to  our  senses.  It  is  indeed 
probable  that  most  of  our  advance  in  the  future  will 
depend  on  the  success  with  which  we  are  able  to 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study        39 

increase  our  power  of  sense  perception.  Invention, 
which  itself  is  dependent  on  a  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  nature,  may  greatly  increase  our  range  of  vision; 
but  there  is  also  the  possibility  of  a  more  delicate  and 
complex  organic  development  of  the  sense-organs 
themselves. 

The  conditions  under  which  this  organic  develop- 
ment of  the  sense-organs  takes  place,  seem  to  be  suitable 
activity  or  proper  use.  A  muscle  is  strengthened 
by  suitable  exercise,  and  so  is  a  sense-organ.  Disuse 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other  leads  to  atrophy  and 
degeneration,  as  can  be  seen  in  the  blind  fishes  of  caves. 

There  seems  to  be  no  sense-organ  that  cannot  be 
trained  in  this  way  by  proper  use.  Notice  in  the  blind 
how  the  sense  of  touch  becomes  developed.  Certain 
it  is  that  many  persons  who  have  eyes  see  not,  and 
that  many  who  have  ears  hear  not.  Equally  certain 
it  is  that  this  defect  is  a  serious  one;  for  it  deprives 
the  individual  not  only  of  a  great  source  of  enjoy- 
ment, but  of  much  valuable  information  which  daily 
observation  might  give.  The  acuteness  of  the  senses, 
resulting  from  proper  use,  is  not  to  be  sought  primarily 
for  its  own  sake,  but  rather  for  the  wholesome  effect 
which  their  best  functional  activity  exerts  on  the  mental 
and  moral  life  as  a  whole. 

As  a  rule,  children  observe  well;  but  a  false  method 
of  teaching,  especially  that  which  reduces  all  school 
work  to  a  study  of  books,  often  destroys  this  natural 
tendency.  When  we  reflect  what  an  important  factor 
in  mental  growth  the  habit  of  close  and  accurate  obser- 
vation is,  we  can  but  deplore  that  so  much  of  our 
school  work  tends  to  diminish  rather  than  increase 
this  power.  Nature  study  if  so  taught  as  to  awaken 
interest,  rather  than  fatigue  the  pupil,  can  be  made 
an  important  aid  in  the  development  of  this  power. 
When  properly  developed  and  trained,  observation 
becomes  a  habit  which  cannot  fail  to  be  a  lifelong 


40  Education  through  Nature 

aid  to  intellectual  power  and  growth.  By  it  atten- 
tion becomes  active  and  concentrated,  and  the  mind's 
activity  is  properly  maintained.  Observation  is  bring- 
ing the  mind  into  contact  with  the  facts  of  the  outer 
world,  thereby  increasing  the  number  and  intensity 
of  the  many  forces  which  contribute  to  mental  evolu- 
tion. 

IV.  Training  of  the  Judgment  and  Imagination. 

The  Judgment  in  Nature  Study.  Mental  states 
affected  by  repeated  sensation  seem  to  be  accom- 
panied by  changes  in  the  nervous  gray  matter  of  the 
brain,  rendering  more  likely  a  recurrence  of  similar 
states.  Phenomena  occurring  together  in  this  process 
may,  when  thus  impressed  on  the  mind,  recall  one 
another.  On  seeing  a  face  which  is  familiar  to  us, 
we  often  recall  another  face  associated  with  it  in  our 
experience;  a  friend's  home  may  recall  the  friend 
who  used  to  reside  there ;  a  melody  may  recall  the  scenes 
of  our  childhood ;  and  an  old  oaken  bucket,  many  inci- 
dents in  our  early  life.  Recollections  like  these  often 
seem  instantaneous;  no  process  of  reflection  or  rea- 
soning seems  necessary  to  recall  them. 

This  association  of  ideas  is  important  in  the  training 
of  the  judgment.  Practical  minds  seem  to  be  those  in 
whom  this  quick  perception  of  fundamental  relations 
is  especially  marked.  When  we  make  a  statement 
about  an  object  a  judgment  is  involved.  The  practical 
judgment  is,  therefore,  trained  in  connection  with 
things.  Nature  study  is  especially  well  suited  to  the 
training  of  the  judgment,  not  only  because  there  is 
an  association  of  ideas,  but  because  of  the  necessity 
of  forming  independent  judgments  that  can  be  tested 
as  to  their  correctness. 

It  is  in  this  department  of  intellectual  training, 
more  than  in  any  other,  perhaps,  that  the  usual  book 
work  in  our  school  education  fails.  The  helplessness, 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         41 

in  practical  affairs  of  life,  of  those  whose  scholastic 
erudition  is  above  the  average  can  be  largely  attributed 
to  the  want  of  opportunity  to  develop  the  power  of 
forming  correct,  independent  judgments.  To  read 
other  men's  thoughts  from  the  printed  page,  and  to 
passively  accept  the  judgments  there  expressed,  may 
destroy  the  power  of  independent  judgment. 

It  is  probable  that  back  of  all  bad  habits,  back  of 
all  crime,  back  of  most  if  not  all  of  our  social  evils, 
there  is  a  warped  and  undeveloped  judgment.  Our 
schools  have  been  engaged  in  training  youth  in  com- 
mitting to  memory  other  people's  judgments  about 
things.  But  as  usual,  memory  often  fails  when  most 
needed.  Besides,  some  judgment  must  be  exercised 
as  to  who  shall  be  our  guide,  if  we  are  unable  to  rely 
on  ourselves.  The  authorities  chosen,  under  such 
circumstances,  are  not  always  the  best  to  say  the  least; 
and  the  inclination  to  accept  the  advice  of  even  the 
best  authorities  is  often  wanting. 

The  ability  to  form  correct  judgments  about  things 
will  assist  in  forming  those  correct  judgments  about 
our  fellow  men  which  is  so  essential  to  good  citizen- 
ship; so  essential,  also,  to  a  realization  of  our  social 
ideals.  The  child  is  apt  to  be  careless  and  unreliable. 
So  much  the  more  does  he  need  to  be  trained  to  care- 
fulness and  deliberation  in  the  judgment  of  things. 
The  habit  of  weighing  evidence,  of  investigating  facts, 
before  a  judgment  is  pronounced,  is  not  only  essential 
to  success  in  a  material  sense,  but  will  overcome  that 
servile  condition  of  the  ignorant  mind,  too  often  the 
result  of  book  work,  which  accepts  as  true  the  most 
absurd  occultism,  with  little  or  no  effort  to  test  its 
intrinsic  probability,  or  the  reliability  of  the  witness 
thereto. 

Republican  institutions  and  democracy  rest  upon 
the  independence  and  self-control  to  which  a,  sane 
and  sound  judgment  is  so  essential.  Modern  altruism 


42  Education  through  Nature 

has  obliterated  physical  human  slavery;  but  there  is 
an  intellectual  slavery  to  the  critic  in  that  mental 
attitude  of  dependence  on  authority  which  is  hardly 
less  demoralizing.  Beggars  we  will  probably  always 
have  with  us;  but  the  wise  philanthropy  seems  to  be 
to  so  arrange  matters  that  self-help  may  be  obtained, 
while  independence  and  self-respect  is  cultivated. 

The  Imagination  in  Nature  Study. 

From  visible  and  finite  things,  imagination  carries 
us  to  the  invisible  and  the  infinite.  Most  if  not  all 
works  of  art  are  the  results  of  conscious  or  unconscious 
experience  with  nature.  From  a  number  of  parts 
we  infer  the  whole;  from  a  number  of  effects  we  infer 
the  cause ;  and  passing  from  the  particular  to  the  gen- 
eral and  from  the  general  back  to  the  particular,  we 
are  aided  by  imagination  not  only  to  solve  many 
difficult  problems,  but  we  are  able  by  it  to  rise,  intel- 
lectually, far  above  objects  of  sense,  with  which  we 
are  immediately  concerned.  From  the  varied  objects 
of  sense  we  abstract  those  essentials  which  conform 
to  our  ethical  and  aesthetic  sense,  like  fragrance  dis- 
tilled from  roses,  and  recombine  the  various  elements 
thus  abstracted  into  new  ideal  forms — composite 
pictures  of  many  visible,  real  elements.  The  product 
of  the  imagination  is,  therefore,  a  good  index  to  the 
purity  of  the  human  soul.  The  imagination  is  not  only 
often  responsible  for  that  peculiarity  in  children  which 
we  designate  by  the  terms  dull  and  bright,  but  is  often 
the  secret  of  the  superior  mental  achievements  of  one 
person  over  those  of  another. 

When  the  training  of  the  imagination  is  spoken  of, 
many  assume,  with  the  old  psychologists,  that  it  is  a 
power  or  faculty  of  the  mind.  We  know  that  it  is 
concerned  with  ideas,  and  that  these  ideas  may  be 
derived  consciously  or  unconsciously  from  experience. 
In  training  the  imagination,  therefore,  we  shall  have 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         43 

to  look  to  the  ideas  that  become  prominent  in  con- 
sciousness. With  the  ethical  and  aesthetic  elements 
in  the  child's  mind  developed,  the  imagination  will 
doubtless  take  care  of  itself.  Yet  it  is  true  that  the 
teacher  has  to  deal  with  certain  phases  of  imagination 
with  a  view  to  overcoming  them.  Much  of  what  is 
taken  to  be  imagination  in  the  child  is  mgre  fancy  or 
fantasy;  for  it  lacks  that  element  of  analysis  and  ab- 
straction, and  final  integration  under  the  guidance  of 
judgment  and  of  the  aesthetic  and  ethical  sense  to 
wKIcn  reference  has  been  made.  iTo  call  a  broom  a 
horse;  to  put  the  head  of  a  man  tm  the  body  of  an  ox;, 
or  the  head  of  a  woman  on  the  body  of  a  fish,  as  was 
common  among  the  earliest  peoples,  and  is  so  fre- 
quently seen  in  children's  games,  requires  no  true 
imagination,  but  merely  an  arbitrary  manipulation 
of  objects  of  sense.  No  natural  law  sustains  such  a 
combination,  and  no  analysis  and  abstraction  neces- 
sarily precedes  it. 

This  vulgar  representation  of  incongruous  com- 
binations of  sense  elements  may  be  the  natural  prelim- 
inary steps  in  the  growth  of  the  true  imagination.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  to  be  wholly  repressed;  but  it  should  be 
recognized  by  the  teacher  as  something  which  the 
child  should  outgrow.  The  pupil  should  be  taught  to 
distinguish  between  the  purely  imaginary  and  the  real. 
Failure  in  this  respect  is  often  responsible  for  many 
children's  dishonesty  in  words  and  deeds. 

The  imagination  is  not  now  considered  to  be  an 
isolated  department  of  the  mind,  but  rather  a  mode  of 
activity  of  the  whole  mind,  in  which  all  powers  are 
involved.  Consequently  normal  development  of  the 
whole  mind  is  necessary  to  a  cultivated  and  refined 
imagination.  Such  a  cultivated  and  refined  imagina- 
tion does  not  make  itself  vulgar  by  display,  but  is 
guided  and  controlled  by  a  sane  judgment,  which 
must  ever  be  the  guiding  element  in  any  cultivated 


44  Education  through  Nature 

taste.  Back  of  all  this  lies  a  delicate  nervous  organ- 
ization; on  which,  too,  depends  intellectual  power; 
both  being  the  result  of  slow  growth  amid  external 
forces  and  influences. 

Back  of  much  of  the  so-called  corrupt  imagination 
of  school  children  lies  ignorance.  To  the  pure  all 
natural  things  are  pure.  Many  adults  betray  their 
fearful  ignorance  by  what  they  regard  as  shocking 
to  the  refined  imagination  and  demoralizing  to  the 
moral  sense.  A  thorough  course  in  nature  study 
should  be  a  sure  cure,  on  the  one  hand,  for  that  squeam- 
ishness  and  sickly  sentimentalism  which  pretends  to 
see  in  the  most  natural  objects  and  acts  a  reason  for 
disgust;  and  on  the  other,  for  that  sickly  and  perverted 
imagination  which  likes  to  dwell  on  vulgar  and  obscene 
things.  There  is  nothing  that  can  overcome  this  so 
effectively  as  enlightenment — a  knowledge  of  the  pure 
and  simple  facts.  Ghosts  lurk  in  darkness,  and  hob- 
goblins are  the  creatures  of  ignorance.  The  pure  light 
of  knowledge  will  disinfect  many  a  filthy  nook  in  the 
child's  mind.  It  is  the  mystery  hovering  around  cer- 
tain natural  facts  and  events  which  often  make  them 
the  chief  attraction  to  a  child's  morbid  imagination. 
Remove  the  mystery,  and  the  nightmare  disappears. 

Considered  scientifically,  and  children  can  be  made 
to  so  consider  it,  there  is  nothing  more  beautiful  and 
interesting  than  the  subject  of  fertilization  in  flowering 
plants,  and  that  of  cross-fertilization  through  the 
medium  of  insects.  A  careful  presentation  of  this 
subject  will  form  a  safe  bridge  on  which  to  lead  the 
pupil  to  the  less  flowery  fields  of  fertilization  of  the 
animal  ovum,  and  the  development  of  the  egg  into  a 
chick  or  a  tadpole.  A  scientific  knowledge  of  these 
things  will  dispel  the  foulness  existing  in  the  pupil's 
mind,  rather  than  in  nature,  and  will  make  a  cleaner 
person  of  him. 

Nature  study  is  well  suited,  also,  to  elevate  the  child's 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         45 

imagination  to  that  higher  plane  on  which  it  becomes 
useful  in  the  acquisition  of  real  knowledge,  and  in 
the  appreciation  of  the  best  works  of  art.  For  in  its 
final  analysis  real  knowledge  must  underlie  genuine 
appreciation,  whether  in  nature  or  in  art. 

That  lawless  cerebration,  often  mistaken  for  imag- 
ination, which  results  in  a  crude  juxtaposition  of 
incongruous  facts  and  ideas,  or  a  blending  of  fact 
and  fiction,  and  which  is  so  prevalent  among  children 
and  untrained  minds  generally,  needs  to  be  restrained 
by  the  teacher  of  nature  study.  The  child  should  be 
put  on  his  guard  against  confusing  fact  and  fiction, 
against  using  his  imagination  instead  of  his  senses. 
Even  the  higher  imagination  must  be  subject  to  the 
control  of  the  more  sober  reason.  It  is  precisely  here, 
in  the  development  of  a  sound  discrimination,  between 
fact  and  fiction,  that  the  supreme  value  of  scientific 
training  lies.  Development,  in  the  individual  as  in 
the  race,  must  include  a  transition  from  that  lawless 
cerebral  activity  called  fantasy,  revery,  hallucination, 
on  the  threshold  of  insanity,  into  that  state  of  well- 
regulated  mental  activity  which  gives  reality  to  life, 
and  value  to  the  products  of  the  mind. 

The  pupil  should  be  taught  to  correct  the  errors 
which  his  fickle  fancy  suggests,  by  careful  application 
of  the  safest  and  surest  test  at  his  command,  the  testi- 
mony of  his  senses.  What  do  I  really  see?  should 
be  a  question  arising  spontaneously  in  the  mind  when 
startling  and  dubious  results  are  gained. 

V.  The    ^Esthetic    and   Ethical  Function  of   Nature 
Study. 

The  Beautiful  in  Nature  Study.  Nature  teems 
with  beautiful  things.  Art  is  nature  idealized.  It 
derives  its  inspiration  from  nature,  and  seeks  to  imi- 
tate it  in  its  idealized  form.  Normal  development 
would  require  that  each  human  being  should  be  able 


46  Education  through  Nature 

to  perceive  the  ideal  in  the  real.  But  the  old  pedagogy 
virtually  had  the  effect  of  making  the  pupil  dependent 
upon  the  artist's  brush  or  the  sculptor's  chisel.  How 
many  bewildered  mortals  there  are  who  worry  over 
the  degrading  influence  of  the  real  in  literature  and  art, 
simply  because  they  have  been  made  dependent  upon 
the  artist;  their  own  creative  powers  having  been 
reduced  to  mere  perception  of  paint!  How  abnormal 
to  be  unable  to  interpret  the  beauty  of  a  real  evening 
sunset,  and  yet  pretend  to  admire  an  imperfect  copy 
of  it  on  canvas ! 

The  idea  of  beauty  is  by  some  philosophers  classed 
as  an  intuitive  idea.  But  the  study  of  children  shows 
that  the  aesthetic  instinct  is  a  growth  which  progresses 
pari  passu  with  our  experience  with  beautiful  things. 
What  in  childhood  we  consider  beautiful  we  do  not 
necessarily  consider  so  in  maturer  years.  A  chromo, 
with  a  motley  array  of  brilliant  colors,  may  appeal  to 
the  child  with  greater  force  than  the  finest  steel  en- 
graving; much  as  a  brightly  colored  scarf  is  more 
attractive  to  the  Indian  than  a  tailor-made  suit  of 
broadcloth. 

As  development  advances,  the  beautiful  in  nature 
and  in  art  is  beautiful  in  proportion  as  it  is  full  of 
meaning  and  suggestive  of  law.  Our  aesthetic  appre- 
ciation develops,  consequently,  as  we  become  able  to 
eliminate  the  non-essential  and  recognize  the  essential. 
Knowledge  of  the  essence  of  things,  so  far  as  that  is 
possible,  enhances,  therefore,  our  conception  of  their 
beauty.  An  irregular  face  may  be  ugly  to  the  ignorant, 
but  truly  beautiful  to  those  who  are  able  to  appreciate 
the  essential  element  of  a  beautiful  and  true  soul  within. 
The  ungainly  form  and  features  of  a  friend  vanish, 
in  our  estimation  of  him,  in  proportion  as  we  learn  to 
know  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  his  character.  Thus, 
by  intimate  association  with  things,  and  the  knowledge 
gained  through  experience,  we  eliminate,  little  by  little, 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         47 

those  characteristics  which  betray  a  violation  of  law, 
order,  harmony,  and  symmetry,  and  obtain,  by  a  pro- 
cess of  assimilation  and  integration,  a  cultivated  taste 
for  what  is  truly  beautiful  in  itself.  Association  with 
beautiful  objects  helps  to  accelerate  this  aesthetic  devel- 
opment. Like  the  bee  sipping  the  fragrant  nectar 
from  the  flower,  we,  also,  extract,  through  our  senses, 
the  more  ethereal  essence  of  harmony,  symmetry,  law, 
and  beauty. 

Doubtless  this  is  largely  an  unconscious  process. 
But  the  aesthetic  judgment  may  be  cultivated  by  sup- 
plying the  proper  material  for  observation  and  directing 
this  observation  wisely.  We  are  often  led  to  admire 
things  which  at  first  did  not  appeal  to  us,  by  seeing 
others,  in  whom  we  have  confidence,  admire  them. 
Children  can  often  be  made  to  appreciate  a  poem  by 
observing  the  teacher's  appreciation  of  it,  as  expressed 
or  implied  in  her  voice  and  gestures.  So,  too,  a  bird, 
or  a  blade  of  grass,  or  a  flower  can  be  given  a  new 
meaning,  aesthetically,  by  the  teacher's  attitude  towards 
it.  In  the  case  of  the  bird,  she  may  point  out  its  uses, 
the  melody  of  its  cheering  song,  its  parental  instincts, 
its  adaptations  in  form,  color,  covering,  etc.,  to  its 
environment;  and,  lastly,  the  inexpressible  sadness 
or  the  frolicking  mischief  in  its  eyes  and  countenance. 
By  thus  combining  the  various  elements,  intricately 
mingled  in  every  natural  thing,  even  an  earthworm 
may  become  attractive,  rather  than  repulsive,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  pupil. 

This  appreciation  of  the  essence  of  things,  so  far 
as  that  is  possible,  by  a  careful  study  of  them  as  regards 
symmetry,  harmony,  order,  law,  and  use,  cannot  fail 
to  be  a  most  potent  factor  in  developing  a  genuine 
aesthetic  taste.  Precluding  the  false,  the  lawless,  the 
disorderly,  and  the  incongruous,  such  a  taste  is  evidence 
of  law,  harmony,  and  beauty  of  soul,  which  must  mani- 
fest itself  in  the  daily  conduct  of  the  pupil.  The  teacher 


48  Education  through  Nature 

who  succeeds  well  in  developing  such  original  appre- 
ciation of  the  beautiful  in  nature  may  find  further 
assurance  of  her  worth  in  the  following  words  of 
Thomas  Carlyle:  "He  who  shows  us  more  clearly  than 
we  knew  before  that  a  lily  of  the  field  is  beautiful, 
has  sung  for  us,  made  us  sing  with  him,  a  little  verse 
of  a  sacred  psalm." 

Ethical  Function  of  Nature  Study. 

The  study  of  science  is  the  surest  means  to  the 
development  of  scientific  culture.  This  culture  is 
essentially  ethical,  and,  for  that  reason,  must  be  the 
safest  foundation  of  social  culture.  It  is  true  that  it 
is  not  favorable  to  the  development  of  useless  senti- 
mentalism;  but,  by  the  strengthening  of  the  judgment, 
the  development  of  sane  ideas,  and  the  training  of  the 
scientific  imagination,  it  must  tend  to  enforce  the 
golden  rule  and  the  dictates  of  a  clear  and  discerning 
conscience.  What  is  right  and  what  is  duty  will  be 
revealed,  as  it  has  been  revealed,  by  practical  experi- 
ence, if  a  sound  judgment  interprets  that  experience. 
The  child's  practical  experiences  with  human  beings 
and  with  the  animate  and  inanimate  things  about  him 
are  his  first  and  most  enduring  lessons  in  right  conduct. 

The  motive  to  successful  scientific  endeavor  is  a 
natural  or  acquired  thirst  for  truth,  to  be  satisfied  only 
by  the  exercise  of  the  will  under  the  guidance  of  a 
clear  perception  and  a  sound  judgment.  A  wise 
discrimination  between  the  false  and  the  true  is  not 
only  essential  to  any  permanent  social  structure,  but 
is  the  basic  element  in  the  sanity  of  the  human  mind. 

Nature  study  cannot  be  made  a  science,  nor  should 
it  be;  for  science  is  the  ripest  fruit  of  development. 
Its  methods,  however,  when  gradually  introduced  into 
school  work,  jnust  have  a  wholesome  effect,  inas- 
mush  as  it  places  the  pupil's  mind  and  activities  into 
proper  relation  to  reality  and  truth.  The  indifference 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study        49 

of  most  children  in  regard  to  this  matter,  and  the  posi- 
tive untruthfulness  of  others,  comes  from  inexperience, 
on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  from  a  train- 
ing in  which  individual  responsibility  is  eliminated 
by  a  constant  reliance  on  authority. 

The  pupil  should  be  made  to  test  the  truth  or  falsity 
of  his  conduct,  no  less  than  the  truth  or  falsity  of  his 
statements.  The  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  and 
aside  from  any  utilitarian  considerations,  should  be 
so  thoroughly  ingrained  in  the  nervous  organization 
of  the  pupil  as  to  assume  the  character  of  an  instinct. 
This  accomplished,  he  can  hardly  be  cruel  to  any  sen- 
sitive thing  or  false  to  any  man. 

Nature  study,  more  than  any  other  study  of  the 
school,  affords  educational  opportunities  in  this  direc- 
tion. Here  lapses  of  memory,  which  are  often  respon- 
sible for  false  statements,  and,  in  the  case  of  moral 
maxims,  a  plea  for  insincere  and  immoral  conduct, 
may  be  corrected  by  careful  examination  of  the  object 
about  which  memory  has  failed.  Here,  as  in  no  other 
study  of  the  school,  the  pupil  can  be  made  to  feel  his 
moral  responsibility  both  with  regard  to  his  work 
and  his  utterances.  He  can  be  made  to  feel  that 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth  is  wanted,  and  that 
all  carelessness  in  observation  and  statement,  all 
slovenliness  in  his  work,  is  a  violation  of  the  moral 
law,  and  is  detrimental  to  his  reputation  and  standing 
in  the  school. 

He  can  be  made  to  feel,  also,  that  strict  adherence 
to  duty  and  to  truth  requires  constant  vigilance  on 
his  part;  that  truth  can  be  attained  and  adhered  to 
only  by  systematic  effort;  that  mistakes  and  error 
creep  in  whenever  he  fails  to  properly  attend  to  the 
minor  details  of  his  work,  and  when  he  shirks  his 
duty  in  doing  the  work  as  the  teacher  has  suggested. 
At  every  point  he  can  be  made  to  see  that  a  falsehood 
or  an  incorrect  statement  vitiates  his  whole  work. 


50  Education  through  Nature 

In  like  measure,  he  can  be  made  to  feel  that  vigi- 
lance and  circumspection,  unyielding  adherence  to 
duty  and  to  truth,  are  the  foundation  of  his  success, 
the  measure  of  the  value  of  his  work,  and  the  criterion 
by  which  he  is  personally  estimated. 

When  nature  study  is  properly  correlated  with 
other  branches  of  the  school  there  will  be  no  lack  of 
opportunity  to  develop  that  quick-wittedness  and 
intellectual  versatility  which  is  so  desirable  in  youth, 
and  which  is  doubtless  a  desirable  phase  of  mental 
evolution. 

VI.  Knowledge  and  Character  Building. 

Nature  Study  and  Character  Building.  Besides 
a  sound  judgment,  the  chief  elements  which  combine 
to  form  character  are  will  power  and  self-reliance. 
Without  these  an  individual  fails  to  execute  what 
his  judgment  and  ethical  sense  dictate.  A  strong 
character  is  one  in  whom  these  characteristics  predom- 
inate. 

Nature  study  is  well  suited  to  develop  will  power 
and  self-reliance.  The  pupil  must  accomplish  his 
task  independently.  He  is  not  to  rely  on  the  judg- 
ment of  others,  nor  is  he  to  get  his  incentives  to  effort 
wholly  through  foreign  aid.  His  work  is,  in  fact, 
original  work,  and  should  contribute  towards  making 
him  an  original  observer  and  an  original  thinker.  He 
must  get  as  much  of  his  information  as  possible  at 
first  hand.  Nature  study  should  not  be  taught  pri- 
marily from  books. 

This  does  not  imply  that  books  and  secondary  sources 
of  information  should  be  excluded  from  his  work. 
He  should  be  made  familiar  with  library  sources  of 
information;  but  they  should  be  the  last  to  be  con- 
sulted after  he  has  exhausted  his  own  resources. 

The  pupil  should  not  be  trained  to  despise  authority, 
as  there  are  many  instances  where  good  authorities 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         51 

are  our  best  and  only  guide.  A  sound  judgment, 
when  properly  trained,  will  lead  the  pupil  to  subordinate 
his  own  personality  where  it  is  inadequate  to  the  task, 
and  will  warn  him  not  to  attempt  what  is  impossible. 
Yet  nature  study  deals  with  the  original  sources  of 
knowledge,  and  as  such  will  call,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  for  that  exercise  of  the  will  in  repeated  attempts 
to  overcome  difficulties  which  tends  to  strengthen  it. 
The  success  which  often  follows  from  such  exercise 
of  the  will  naturally  tends  to  strengthen  self-reliance. 

With  this  end  in  view,  the  work  can  be  so  arranged 
by  the  teacher  that  a  proper  amount  of  success  in 
the  work  will  be  attained  whenever  a  due  amount  of 
energy  is  put  into  it.  Poor  results  with  work  thus 
arranged  should  not  be  accepted,  and  a  due  recognition 
should  be  given  when  the  work  is  well  done.  Such 
consciousness  of  success  strengthens  the  self-reliance 
of  the  pupil,  and  stimulates  him  to  further  exercise  of 
his  will. 

Opportunity  for  this  exercise  of  the  will  is  necessary 
to  the  formation  of  character.  Without  will  power, 
knowledge,  no  matter  how  extensive,  produces  no 
results.  The  theory  that  all  school  work  should  be 
made  as  agreeable  as  possible  does  not  mean  that  it 
should  be  reduced  to  mere  listless  and  idle  play.  The 
aim  should  be  to  eliminate  the  notion  of  play  as  the 
pupil  advances,  and  to  lead  him  to  apply  himself, 
voluntarily  and  systematically,  to  his  work.  The 
great  variety  of  the  pupil's  powers,  both  physical  and 
mental,  brought  into  exercise,  when  nature  study  is 
properly  pursued,  renders  it  pleasurable,  and  makes 
it  less  fatiguing  than  are  many  other  branches  of  the 
school. 

Character  is  not  developed  by  avoiding  contact 
with  the  realities  of  life — contact  with  things.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  by  entering  into  this  real  life,  by 
acting  and  reacting  on  the  physical  environment, 


52  Education  through  Nature 

properly  regulated,  that  the  pupil  learns  to  estimate 
his  powers  correctly,  to  realize  his  weaknesses,  and 
to  gain  that  self-control,  amid  all  vicissitudes,  which 
constitutes  the  practical  demonstration  of  character. 

The  physiological  explanation  of  this  is,  perhaps, 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  nature  are 
uniform.  Consequently  physiological  reactions  to 
similar  forces  and  influences  must  also  be  uniform. 
Hence  the  nervous  system  acquires  a  specific  quality 
of  organization  which  underlies  stability  of  character. 
Human  society,  cut  loose  from  nature  and  guided  by 
fluctuating  feelings  and  motives,  does  not  offer  that 
constancy  to  nervous  reactions.  Hence  stability  of 
character  should  hardly  be  expected  as  a  result  of 
social  intercourse  alone.  The  latter  tends,  rather,  to 
develop  that  nervous  state  from  which  nothing  can 
be  safely  predicted. 

The  pupil's  physical  health  has  much  to  do  with 
the  development  of  will  and  self-reliance,  and  hence, 
also,  with  the  development  of  character.  A  stunted 
and  diseased  body  is  often  the  cause  of  moral  depravity. 
Not  by  physical  torture  is  the  mind  and  soul  purified, 
any  more  than  the  choicest  apples  are  to  be  gathered 
from  a  rotten  tree.  Let  the  pupil's  health,  therefore, 
be  attended  to.  Remember  that  states  of  the  body 
react  upon  the  mind.  Proper  light,  proper  positions 
when  at  work,  and  proper  activity  in  the  field  should 
be  insisted  upon.  Nature  study  out  of  doors  is  the 
best  of  tonics. 

Knowledge  Gained  in  Nature  Study. 

Scientific  results  cannot  be  expected  in  natur£%tudy. 
The  acquisition  of  knowledge  should  not  be  made  its 
chief  or  only  aim.  In  the  teacher's  mind  the  pupil 
should  take  precedence  of  the  facts  to  be  imparted. 
Natural  growth,  in  physical  and  intellectual  power, 
should  be  considered  paramount.  This  attained, 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         53 

knowledge  will  be  sure  to  follow;  while,  if  not  attained, 
a  few  facts  more  or  less  will  be  of  little  consequence. 

It  is,  however,  by  exploring  the  original  sources 
of  knowledge,  and  by  acquiring  as  much  of  that 
knowledge  as  present  powers  permit,  that  natural 
growth  of  the  nervous  system,  and  consequently 
mental  power,  is  promoted.  We  gain  our  knowledge 
through  experience,  either  personal  or  ancestral,  and 
we  are  what  we  are  by  virtue  of  that  experience.  It  is 
probable  that  every  reaction  to  a  sense  impression 
implies  a  more  or  less  permanent  change  in  the  nervous 
system,  and  that  a  pupil  is  not  the  same  after  having 
learned  a  fact  by  observation  that  he  was  previous  to 
the  acquisition  of  that  knowledge.  However  worth- 
less some  facts  may  seem  in  themselves,  therefore, 
they  may  be  important  factors  in  the  shaping  of  the 
plastic  mind.  Furthermore,  no  fact  is  really  worth- 
less in  science. 

Youth  seems  to  be  a  period  very  favorable  to  the 
learning  of  some  facts  which  in  later  years  are  acquired 
less  easily.  This  is  especially  true  of  terms,  such  as 
names,  etc.,  which  are  held  more  or  less  mechanically 
in  the  mind,  with  no  necessary  logical  connection  with 
other  mental  products.  The  acquisition  of  this  technical 
language  in  early  life,  with  the  simple  idea  back  of 
the  word,  is  valuable  to  every  one  in  this  age  of  science, 
even  though  the  person  fails  to  enter  upon  the  study  of 
pure  science. 

Nature  study  is  the  natural  means  of  acquiring  that 
language  which  enables  us  to  appropriate  the  human 
treasures  of  the  past  as  contained  in  books.  With  an 
appropriate  method  of  teaching  and  study,  both  the 
facts  and  the  language  will  be  acquired  naturally, 
without  much  effort  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  Much 
of  this  will  be  acquired  by  unconscious  induction, 
while  the  pupil  is  engaged  in  the  healthy  exercise  of 
his  powers. 


54  Education  through  Nature 

Knowledge  is  valuable,  intrinsically,  in  proportion 
as  it  is  scientific.  But  nature  study  should  not  be 
made  too  matter-of-fact,  because  it  is  primarily  in- 
tended to  develop  those  powers  which  will  make 
scientific  work  possible.  A  fact,  however,  should  be 
a  real  fact,  not  an  imaginary  one;  and  a  clear  distinc- 
tion should  be  developed  in  the  mind  between  fact 
and  fiction.  There  is  little  occasion  for  sympathy 
with  that  ignorant  sentimentalism  which  insists  that 
interest  and  appreciation  can  be  divorced  from  knowl- 
edge of  facts.  The  youthful  mind  and  the  untrained 
adult  mind  are  too  prone  to  dwell  on  the  unreal  and 
the  absurdly  untrue,  in  fairy  tales  and  fiction,  to  need 
any  encouragement  in  this  department  of  school  work. 
From  the  character  of  the  pupil  as  he  enters  the  school, 
and  from  the  natural  course  which  his  development 
must  take,  it  seems  reasonable  to  say  that  the  nature- 
study  work  should  be  made  more  and  more  scientific 
from  the  lower  grades  up.  In  the  upper  grades  it 
can  hardly  be  made  too  scientific.  Considering  the 
scientific  preparation  of  teachers  even  in  many  high- 
schools,  the  danger  is  that  it  must  either  become  mere 
recitation  from  a  text-book  or  else  only  a  crude  imita- 
tion of  scientific  work.  Again,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
little  science  pupils  in  the  grades  are  able  to  master, 
even  when  conditions  are  most  favorable,  will  not  hurt 
them,  as  some  theorists  seem  to  believe. 

VII.  Expression  and  Generalization. 

Expression  in  Nature  Study.  An  important  principle 
in  pedagogy  is  this,  "the  idea  before  the  word."  The 
development  of  language,  both  in  the  race  and  in  the 
individual,  teaches  us  that  language  is  the  result  of 
ideas,  not  necessarily  the  cause  of  them.  When  the 
child  has  gained,  through  experience  with  its  environ- 
ment, certain  ideas,  it  feels  the  need  of  expressing 
them.  As  a  social  being,  on  entering  school,  its  mode 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         55 

of  expressing  ideas  is  by  means  of  oral  language. 
Later  it  adopts  other  means,  such  as  drawing,  making, 
and  writing. 

Each  of  these  modes  of  expression  has  its  own  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages.  Many  ideas  can  be 
expressed  orally  which  cannot  be  expressed  by  draw- 
ing or  by  making;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  many  ideas, 
such  as  color  and  form,  can  be  better  expressed  by 
means  of  the  pencil  and  brush. 

It  is  self-evident,  of  course,  that  ideas  must  exist 
in  the  mind  before  they  can  be  expressed.  The 
expression  of  ideas,  however,  involves  neural  pro- 
cesses and  muscular  activity  which  react  on  the  mind, 
and  thus  become  intimately  concerned  in  that  final 
product,  mental  power,  which  is  the  great  aim  of  our 
work. 

Then,  too,  by  expressing  an  idea  we  are  better  able 
to  criticise  it.  We  often  discover  the  inadequacy  of 
our  knowledge  by  trying  to  express  it,  and  are  led  to 
re-examine  facts  and  phenomena  from  different  points 
of  view.  Mental  assimilation  is  thus  promoted,  and 
ideas  assume  their  due  prominence  in  relation  to  one 
another.  It  is  by  the  pupil's  expression  of  his  ideas 
that  the  inner  cerebral  mechanism  is  revealed  to  the 
teacher,  who  is  thus  enabled  to  correct  erroneous 
impressions,  or  to  guide  the  pupil  to  proper  self -activity. 

It  was  a  fundamental  principle  in  the  philosophy 
of  the  founder  of  the  kindergarten  that  development 
is  an  unfolding  of  intrinsic  powers,  and  that  expression 
is  evidence  of  that  unfolding.  Such  expression,  how- 
ever, is  mere  play,  for  it  is  not  guided  by  external 
reality,  nor  adapted  to  it.  The  selection,  in  the  strug- 
gle for  existence,  which  contact  with  nature  involves, 
does  not  operate  amid  such  conditions,  and  the  expres- 
sion, therefore,  is  but  the  outward  manifestation  of 
lawless  cerebrations  within.  That  is  not  nature  study. 

Nature  study  is  deriving  ideas,  through  the  senses, 


56  Education  through  Nature 

from  the  external .  world.  These  ideas  are  not  spon- 
taneous growths  in  the  mind,  nor  are  they  intuitive. 
They  are  the  results  of  experience,  and  should  derive 
their  meaning  from  that  experience.  Expression  in 
nature  study  should  be  conditioned  by  outward  phe- 
nomena. Not  mere  talk,  but  talk  which  means  some- 
thing; not  merely  ideas,  but  ideas  corresponding  to 
realities,  rather  than  subjective  states,  should  be  sought 
in  nature  study.  If  this  correspondence  of  the  idea 
with  outward  phenomena  is  lacking,  its  expression  had 
better  be  reserved  for  the  playground. 

There  is  an  educational  value,  also,  in  the  power  of 
inhibition,  the  suppression  of  irrational  and  erroneous 
ideas.  In  fact,  the  more  critical  we  become,  the  more 
do  we  hesitate  to  express  an  idea  the  absolute  truth 
of  which  is  doubted.  Culture  is  characterized,  often, 
by  scrupulous  care  in  expression,  whether  it  be  ex- 
pression by  oral  or  written  language,  or  that  expression 
which  reveals  itself  as  conduct  and  personal  appear- 
ance. Mental  power  may  often  reveal  itself  in  silence; 
and  education  and  culture  reduces  meaningless  ex- 
pression to  a  minimum. 

Used  as  an  educational  means,  rather  than  as  a 
means  for  pastime,  nature  study  should  promote 
that  scrupulous  care  in  the  choice  of  words  which 
exactly  express  the  idea.  Furthermore,  it  should  tend 
to  that  accurate  and  systematic  thinking  which  forbids 
expression  when  there  is  nothing  to  express.  The 
ability  to  discriminate  between  those  ideas  which  con- 
form and  those  which  do  not  conform  to  the  exter- 
nal reality  is  not  so  common,  even  among  adults,  as 
might  be  supposed,  considering  that  this  power  is  the 
basis  of  common  sense. 

This  does  not  imply  that  the  emotional  nature  of 
the  pupil  should  be  suppressed,  nor  that  the  play  of  the 
imagination,  so  natural  to  childhood,  should  be  entirely 
discouraged.  It  means,  simply,  that  the  pupil  should 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         57 

be  trained  to  discriminate  between  fact  and  fiction; 
between  the  real  in  nature  and  that  which  is  the  result 
of  his  own  emotional  states. 

No  rule  can  be  laid  down.  The  teacher  will  find 
ample  opportunity  here  to  exercise  a  wise  judgment 
in  striking  a  happy  mean.  The  safest  way  is,  doubtless, 
to  confine  the  pupil  to  the  facts  during  the  first  lessons 
on  any  one  topic,  and  finally,  after  the  subject  is  well 
understood  as  to  the  facts,  to  express  whatever  of 
sentiment  and  poetry  it  may  suggest  to  him.  We 
have  a  right  to  express  our  appreciation  of  a  thing 
only  after  we  know  that  thing.  Let  appreciation  be 
based,  not  on  our  own  selfish,  indolent  states,  but  on 
the  merit  which  deeper  insight  reveals. 

Oral  expression,  speech,  is  most  convenient  in  the 
preliminary  development  of  a  subject.  It  saves  time 
when  the  object  is  to  correct  errors  or  to  suggest  ways 
of  avoiding  them.  Drawing  and  the  final  written 
work  are  better  deferred  till  the  subject  is  well  under- 
stood. The  study  of  unfamiliar  things  involves  the 
discovery  of  new  facts  and  new  relations  of  facts. 
New  ideas  of  facts  and  their  relations  require  new 
terms  to  express  them.  A  need  for  such  new  terms 
will  be  felt  by  the  pupil  when  he  begins  to  relate  his 
observations.  The  need  being  felt,  there  is  evidence 
that  the  pupil  has  the  idea,  the  name  or  symbol  for 
which  should  then  be  supplied  by  the  teacher.  This 
is  the  natural  way  of  acquiring  a  vocabulary.  When 
the  word  is  supplied  in  this  way  when  needed,  it  means 
something,  and  will  be  properly  used  later  in  written 
work. 

Hence  nature  study  is  the  only  sensible  means  of 
teaching  language  in  its  rudiments.  Pupils  as  a  rule 
find  no  great  difficulty  with  scientific  terms  if  supplied 
when  needed.  They  often,  in  fact,  enjoy  a  difficult 
scientific  term,  and  seem  to  master  it  as  easily  as  a 
simpler  one. 


58  Education  through  Nature 

It  is  a  common  experience  to  find  that  children 
and  unscientific  people  inquire  about  the  name  of  an 
object,  but  often  manifest  no  desire  to  know  more 
about  it.  If  the  teacher  knows  the  name  of  the  object, 
it  may  be  well  to  give  it  at  the  proper  time,  but  better 
still  to  teach  the  pupil  how  to  find  the  name  by  refer- 
ence to  authorities.  One  important  feature  of  the 
unabridged  dictionaries  is  often  overlooked — that, 
namely,  which  gives  the  figures  and  the  names  of  most 
common  objects.  But  the  pupil  should  be  trained 
to  realize  that  the  important  characters  of  an  object 
are  of  greater  value  than  its  name.  To  study  nature 
by  merely  learning  the  names  of  things  would  be 
about  as  sensible  as  to  study  economics  or  sociology 
by  learning  the  names  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  com- 
munity. John  Smith  the  man  should  be  of  greater 
importance  than  John  Smith  the  name. 

There  are  many  names,  like  many  laws,  that  are 
common  to  many  or  all  living  things.  Such  names 
should  be  insisted  upon  in  this  work.  They  are  the 
labels  by  which  we  identify  bundles  of  facts,  con- 
veniences of  which  the  teacher,  at  least,  cannot  afford 
to  be  ignorant. 

Generalization  in  Nature  Study. 

Extremely  important  as  observation  is,  it  is  not  to 
be  cultivated  for  its  own  sake.  To  be  constantly 
attending  to  every  trifle,  without  assimilating  what  is 
observed,  is  a  useless  waste  of  time.  Indeed,  there  is 
danger  in  nature-study  work  of  overdoing  observation 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
reflection.  A  dilettanteism  may  be  developed  in 
which  the  mind  passes  lightly  from  one  fact  to  an- 
other without  perceiving  the  import  of  the  fact  or 
its  relation  to  other  facts.  That  is  not  peculiar  to 
nature  study.  Superficial  reading  produces  the  same 
mental  habit. 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         59 

In  one  sense  it  is  fortunate  that  we  are  able  to 
forget  unimportant  details.  For  it  is  by  a  process 
akin  to  forgetting  that  we  are  able  to  generalize. 
The  object  of  ^observation  is  generalization  and  ab- 
straction. Many  facts  with  which  nature  study  deals 
are  in  themselves  worthless.  They  are  valuable, 
however,  in  proportion  as  they  furnish  data  for  correct 
generalization.  One  generalization  is  worth  a  hun- 
dred facts.  The  power  of  generalization,  therefore, 
should  be  developed;  and  observation  pure  and 
simple  should  not  be  allowed  to  monopolize  all  the 
time  and  energy  of  the  pupil. 

The  power  to  generalize  differs  in  different  indi- 
viduals. It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  this  differ- 
ence is  due  to  heredity  or  to  difference  in  early  train- 
ing. There  is,  doubtless,  a  hereditary  element  in 
nervous  organization  as  well  as  an  acquired  one. 
This  is,  however,  not  synonymous  with  saying  that 
general  ideas  are  inherited.  Generalization  means 
deriving  general  ideas  and  concepts  from  many  par- 
ticulars. This  is  induction.  It  is  now  thought 
probable  that  all  our  general  ideas  and  notions  arise 
in  the  mind  in  that  way.  It  seems  to  be  by  a  process 
of  assimilation,  analysis  and  integration,  of  the  essen- 
tial aspects  of  many  particulars,  and  the  elimination, 
forgetting,  of  the  non-essentials,  that  general  concepts 
arise.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  general  notion  of  a 
genus  arises  from  the  actual  observation  of  several 
species.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  older  psycholo- 
gists say  that  the  idea  of  a  genus  exists  before  the  idea 
of  species;  that,  for  instance,  the  concept  horse  must 
exist  in  the  mind  before  a  particular  horse,  as  "Prince" 
can  be  recognized.  This,  however,  is  a  mere  con- 
tention, maintained  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  a  philosophi- 
cal system.  We  probably  get  the  notion  dog  by  re- 
peatedly seeing  various  dogs,  as  Rover,  Fido,  Jack; 
and,  from  them,  the  general  concept  dog.  It  is  said 


60  Education  through  Nature 

that  Newton,  on  seeing  an  apple  fall  to  the  ground, 
was  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  general  law  of  gravita- 
tion. He  had,  doubtless,  seen  many  things  fall  before 
he  undertook  to  formulate  the  general  law  of  falling 
bodies.  Others  had  seen  the  same  thing;  yet,  unlike 
Newton,  they  dwelt  on  the  particular  facts  without 
deducing  the  general  law.  Newton  generalized.  Ob- 
servation should  lead  to  generalization  and  abstraction. 
Physiologically,  this  may  possibly  mean  that  a  nervous 
connection  should  be  developed  between  the  various 
elements  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  so  as  to  facilitate  a 
regular  and  well-defined  interaction  between  those 
elements.  Mere  observation  may  involve  the  activity 
of  isolated  centers  only,  giving  no  coherence  to  the 
elements  of  knowledge. 

Abstraction  resembles  generalization  in  this,  that, 
from  a  number  of  particulars,  we  eliminate  the  non- 
essentials  and  obtain  an  idea  of  some  quality  common 
to  many  objects,  but  apart  from  any  one  of  them. 
Thus,  from  the  sweet  fragrance  of  many  clovers, 
sweet  peas,  etc.,  we  may  derive  the  abstract  concep- 
tion of  sweetness  in  general. 

These  general  and  abstract  ideas,  arising  thus 
through  our  experience  with  particulars,  are  of  inesti- 
mable value  in  the  following  stages  of  mental  develop- 
ment. They  become  controlling  influences  in  the 
voluntary  life  of  the  individual;  regulative  ideas,  as 
they  are  sometimes  called.  They  are  indications  of 
a  formed  and  stable  nervous  system.  Indeed  the  one 
supreme  aim  of  nature  study  might  be  said  to  be  to 
promote  this  nervous  organization,  the  formation  of 
these  general  concepts;  for  it  is  only  after  these  have 
been  formed  that  considerable  advance  in  real  science 
is  possible.  From  this  point  of  view,  also,  nature 
study  is  the  foundation  of  all  other  studies  of  the 
school;  for  it  is  evident  that  even  reading  is  impossi- 
ble without  these  general  ideas* 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study          61 

The  proper  development  of  this  power  of  abstrac- 
tion and  generalization  is,  indeed,  the  most  difficult 
of  all  our  educational  aims.  There  is  danger  on  both 
sides — that  of  overdoing  observation,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  that  of  overdoing  generalization,  on  the  other. 
Correct  generalization  requires  a  sufficient  number 
of  accurate  data  of  particular  facts.  If  generalization 
is  overdone,  there  is  danger  of  ignoring  facts  and 
jumping  at  conclusions.  The  confidence  we  place 
in  the  opinions  of  men  depends  largely  on  the  delib- 
eration with  which  they  sift  their  evidence  before 
forming  a  conclusion.  The  habit  of  scrupulously 
attending  to  the  particulars  before  a  general  notion  is 
formed  is  characteristic  of  the  judicial  mind;  and  it 
is  the  same  habit  which  gives  weight  to  the  opinions 
of  the  man  of  science.  When  we  notice  how  prevalent 
the  opposite  tendency  is — that  of  jumping  at  conclu- 
sions, with  no  sufficient  evidence, — and  when  we 
notice,  too,  that  this  is  characteristic  of  youth  and 
the  ignorant  and  untrained,  we  have  reason  to  believe 
that  there  is  a  physical  cause,  namely,  absence  of  stable 
organization  of  the  nervous  system. 

The  habit  of  generalizing  on  insufficient  data 
sometimes  assumes  a  morbid  form,  that  of  abnormal 
introspection.  In  this  form  it  interferes  with  obser- 
vation, often  making  the  subject  see  particulars  in  a 
false,  subjective  light.  Prejudices  thus  arise  which 
render  a  normal  evolution  of  the  mind  impossible. 
Pupils  of  this  type  often  seem  prematurely  old. 

On  the  whole,  generalization  is  not  normal  to  the 
young  plastic  mind.  Generalization  should  become 
prominent  at  that  period  in  life  when  the  nervous 
organization  approaches  completion.  Juvenile  phi- 
losophers are  abnormal,  because  they  betray  an  un- 
natural precocity  of  nervous  organization,  which  renders 
them  unable  to  receive  those  numerous  new  impres- 
sions which  would  prolong  their  period  of  mental 


Education  through  Nature 


evolution  if  their  nervous  plasticity  covld  be  retained. 
A  wisely  planned  course  in  nature  study  and  science, 
by  offering  great  variety  of  impressions,  may  maintain 
the  nervous  plasticity,  and  thus  prolong  the  period 
of  mental  evolution  of  those  who  by  nature  are  pre- 
cocious; or,  on  the  other  hand,  by  supplying  material 
duly  arranged  for  generalization,  it  may  hasten  the 
intellectual  development  of  those  who  are  slow  in 
maturing.  The  teacher  can  hardly  find  any  field  in 
all  his  work  in  which  such  excellent  opportunities 
offer  themselves,  not  only  for  the  exercise  of  the  best 
possible  judgment,  but  also  for  obtaining  remarkable 
results. 

While  it  may  be  considered  undesirable,  therefore, 
to  hasten  the  process  of  generalization  in  young  chil- 
dren unduly,  because  it  interferes  with  that  plasticity 
which  is  desirable  in  the  child,  and  indeed  necessary 
to  the  highest  intellectual  attainments,  it  is  very  cer- 
tain that  the  opposite  course,  that  of  overdoing  obser- 
vation to  such  an  extent  as  to  preclude  generalization, 
is  equally  undesirable  and  pernicious.  The  mere 
"observer"  is  a  character  which  is  sometimes  met 
with  even  among  naturalists  so  called.  They  are  the 
opposite  extreme  of  the  morbid  introspective  dreamer. 
While  the  latter's  eyes  seem  to  be  of  no  use  to  him,  so 
far  as  influencing  his  mental  evolution  is  concerned 
the  former  seems  to  be  all  eyes,  with  no  brains  back 
of  them  to  elaborate  and  assimilate  the  crude  chaff 
upon  which  his  eyes  constantly  feast.  The  one  is  as 
abnormal  as  the  other,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  which 
of  the  two  excites  our  pity  most. 

The  teacher  of  nature  study  must  seek  to  find  the 
golden  mean  between  these  two  extremes.  Remem- 
ber that  not  all  facts  are  worth  remembering,  and 
that  nature  did  well  in  enabling  us  to  forget.  Mere 
observation  of  isolated  facts  may  so  load  a  mechanical 
memory  with  rubbish  as  to  interfere  with  the  proper 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study        63 

evolution  of  the  mind,  which  in  its  normal  activity 
passes  from  the  particular  to  the  general,  from  the 
concrete  to  the  abstract,  by  a  process  of  elimination  and 
forgetting.  The  possibilities  of  such  an  overloaded 
mind  are  not  great.  Dwelling  continually  on  a  mass 
of  details,  it  develops  no  regulating  principles,  no 
rational  basis  for  conduct.  For  these  must  be  general 
principles.  The  achievements  of  a  mind  dwelling 
constantly  on  isolated  facts  must  ever  be  a  matter  of 
chance.  No  voluntary  rational  direction  can  be 
given  to  its  mental  energies;  and  science  in  its  true 
sense,  as  systematized  knowledge  gathered  in  the 
light  of  guiding  principles  and  stimulated  by  a  gen- 
eral idea,  must  ever  be  foreign  to  it.  "  Mere  observers" 
are  sometimes  called  scientists,  but  erroneously.  The 
ordinary  teacher  of  nature  study  is  doubtless  aware 
that  books  on  nature  study  are  usually  made  up  of  a 
disconnected  mass  of  curious  observations,  often  in- 
teresting, but  extremely  fatiguing  to  the  mind,  when 
attempt  is  made  to  get  any  lasting  information  from 
them.  Often  the  sense  of  equilibrium  is  restored 
only  after  most  of  the  details  are  forgotten.  It  is 
difficult  to  understand  what  use  such  mere  observa- 
tion can  be  except  as  it  affords  a  pastime  to  those 
who  have  nothing  else  to  do.  A  false  method  may 
lead  to  such  mere  observation  of  disconnected  facts, 
and  develop  a  dilettanteism  which,  in  the  eyes  of 
those  unfamiliar  with  natural  science,  has  all  the 
appearances  of  a  fad. 

Such  may  err  in  assuming  that  observed  facts  that 
are  apparently  worthless  must  necessarily  be  so 
intrinsically.  It  may  be  doubted  if  any  fact,  how- 
ever insignificant,  when  impressed  upon  the  mind, 
does  not  in  some  way  affect  it;  that  the  brain  after 
a  stimulation  becomes  absolutely  the  same  as  it  was 
before  that  stimulation. 

Sense  stimulation  gives  rise  tojiftfiftftftdous  indue- 


UNIVERSITY 


64  Education  through  Nature 

tion.  Much  of  the  nature-study  work  in  the  lower 
grades  must  be  of  this  nature.  Observation  must 
here  predominate.  Indeed  it  is  doubtful  if  any  con- 
siderable effort  should  here  be  made  by  the  teacher 
to  lead  the  pupil  to  generalize.  The  history  of  the 
human  race,  so  far  as  we  have  any  record  of  that  his- 
tory, suggests  that  a  period  of  unconscious  induction 
preceded  the  age  of  generalization — the  philosophical 
and  theological  age — and  that  the  latter  ages  pre- 
ceded, in  the  history  of  western  peoples  at  least,  the 
period  of  conscious  systematic  study  of  nature — our 
present  scientific  age.  The  same  stages  properly 
belong  to  the  individual;  (i)  the  period  of  uncon- 
scious induction  by  a  varied  experience  with  natural 
things;  (2)  the  period  of  generalization  and  specula- 
tion; (?.)  the  scientific  period,  in  which  the  individual, 
doubtful  of  his  previous  generalizations,  yet  impressed 
by  their  imporlance,  proceeds  voluntarily  and  sys- 
tematically to  test,  by  accurate  observation  and  ex- 
periment, the  truth  or  absurdity  of  those  previously 
formed  general  notions.  This  latter,  alone,  can  be 
called  science. 

For  various  reasons,  among  which  may  be  included 
not  only  want  of  school  training,  but  also  unnatural 
school  training,  many  persons  never  arrive  at  this 
third  stage;  or  do  so  at  such  an  advanced  age  that 
but  very  little  of  real  scientific  work  can  be  done. 
Nature  study,  properly  graded,  can  so  condense  the 
first  two  periods  as  to  make  of  the  graduates  of  our 
schools,  if  not  scientists,  then  men  and  women  with 
that  broad-minded  conservatism  which  is  so  highly 
to  be  prized. 

Finally,  the  teacher  of  nature  study  should  be,  not 
only  a  good  observer,  but  also  a  sane  thinker.  Nature 
study  deals  with  the  finite;  yet  there  is  much  in  it  to 
suggest  the  infinite.  All  generalizations  are  neces- 
sarily partial  that  do  not  proceed  from  a  central  con- 


General  Aims  of  Nature  Study         65 

ception  of  the  whole.  But  that  does  not  detract 
from  their  value,  since,  to  the  finite  mind,  the  infinite 
is  incomprehensible.  The  race  has  developed  certain 
conceptions  of  the  infinite,  which  to  many  are  sacred 
legacies  of  the  past.  These  legacies,  having  survived 
the  storm  and  stress  of  conflicting  opinion  since  man 
began  to  think,  must  possess  some  fitness  to  supply  a 
natural  need  of  man.  Educational  theories,  too,  are 
subject  to  the  same  law  of  selection.  Progress  results, 
not  by  destroying  the  old,  but  by  the  new  additions 
that  issue  from  it. 

Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  O  my  soul, 

As  the  swift  seasons  roll! 

Leave  thy  low- vaulted  past ! 

Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 

Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 
Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life's  unresting  sea! 


CHAPTER   III 
General  Methods 

VIII.  Methods  of  Reasoning. 

Logic  has  been  defined  as  the  art  of  directing  the 
reason  aright  in  acquiring  the  knowledge  of  things, 
for  the  instruction  both  of  ourselves  and  others.  In 
this  is  involved  (a)  objects,  (6)  thought,  (c)  language. 
In  the  presence  of  an  object  we  may  (a)  simply  app:  > 
hend  it,  (6)  then  form  a  judgment  about  it,  and  (c) 
reason  about  it  and  talk  about  it.  To  apprehend  is 
simply  to  be  aware;  to  form  a  judgment  is  to  compare 
with  other  things,  and  to  reason  or  converse  about  it 
is  to  express  the  activity  of  the  mind  in  symbols  or 
terms  combined  into  sentences  or  propositions.  The 
terms  may  be:  (a)  particular  terms,  (&)  general  terms. 
The  first  denotes  only  a  single  object,  the  latter  is 
applicable  to  any  one  or  all  of  any  indefinite  number  of 
objects.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  the  expressions 
general  and  particular. 

i.  THE  DEDUCTIVE  METHOD  is  the  method  of 
reasoning  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  thus: 
All  frogs  croak;  this  animal  is  a  frog;  therefore  this 
animal  croaks.  Or,  all  fungi  are  plants;  this  is  a 
fungus;  therefore  this  is  a  plant. 

The  general  is  supposed  to  contain  all  the  particu- 
lars; and,  consequently,  it  is  assumed  that,  knowing 
the  general,  the  particular  can  be  inferred.  Hence, 
also,  the  expression,  from  the  abstract  to  the  concrete. 

The  disadvantage  of  this  deductive  method  lies  in 
the  fact  that,  in  many  cases,  we  may  be  led  by  our 

66 


General  Methods  67 

enthusiasm,  indifference,  prejudice,  or  carelessness,  to 
assume  the  general  to  be  true  when  it  is  not.  Thus: 
A  hat  is  passed  around  in  church  for  contributions  to 
the  mission  fund.  It  is  assumed  that  this  contribu- 
tion is  to  be  money.  After  the  collection  an  account 
of  the  money  contributed  is  to  be  rendered  to  the 
assembly.  You  take  out  one  contribution  after  the 
other,  and  finding  one  nickel  after  another,  you  jump 
at  the  conclusion,  not  only  that  (i)  everything  in  the 
hat  is  money,  but  that  (2)  it  is  all  nickels.  It  turns 
out,  however,  that  this  is  an  error;  for  one  rascal,  hav- 
ing no  sympathy  with  missionary  activity,  has  con- 
tributed a  button  instead  of  a  nickel.  Hence  the  dis- 
crepancy in  results.  Conclusion  (i)  is  a  result  of 
error  in  deduction,  and  (2)  error  in  induction.  Then, 
too,  we  may  select  unconsciously  such  a  major  premise 
as  will  sustain  the  conclusion  sought.  General  terms 
are  often  misleading,  therefore,  because  (i)  they  may 
have  more  than  one  meaning,  (2)  they  may  be  supposed 
to  include  what  they  do  not  include. 

This  method  may  interfere  with  observation,  the 
mind  being  satisfied  with  the  inference  drawn  from 
the  general  idea,  which  is  too  often  merely  a  vague  one. 

Its  advantages  lie  in  the  fact  that,  if  the  major  premise, 
the  general,  is  true,  the  conclusion  must  be  true  also. 
It  is  equivalent  to  a  mathematical  demonstration; 
and  it  is  often  said  that  nothing  short  of  such  a  demon- 
stration can  be  considered  positively  true.  Manifestly, 
unless  we  assume  that  the  general  is  innate,  the  mind 
has  first  to  acquire  the  general  notion  or  arrive  at  the 
general  concept;  and,  consequently,  this  method 
should  be  avoided  until  such  a  time  when  the  general 
idea  is  really  present  in  the  mind.  Hence  its  advan- 
tages become  most  apparent  when  used  in  connection 
with  the  inductive  method. 

2.  THE  INDUCTIVE  METHOD  is  passing  from  the 
particular  to  the  general.  Thus  by  observing  a  number 


68  Education  through  Nature 

of  horses  we  finally  get  the  general  idea  that  all  horses 
neigh,  perhaps;  or  that  all  horses  have  a  mane.  Or 
more  definitely :  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  Thurs- 
day, Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday  contain  less  than 
twenty-five  hours.  These  are  all  the  days  of  the  week; 
therefore  all  the  days  of  the  week  contain  less  than 
twenty-five  hours. 

Induction  is  the  mode  by  which  all  the  materials  of 
knowledge  enter  the  mind,  and  are  analyzed.  It  is 
sometimes  defined  as  inference  from  the  known  to 
the  unknown ;  or,  as  passing  from  the  concrete  to 
the  abstract. 

The  disadvantages  of  this  method  are:  (i)  It  re- 
quires sound  sense-organs;  (2)  physical  strength 
besides  mental  activity;  (3)  states  of  consciousness 
may  affect  the  peripheral  sense-organs;  (4)  it  is  a 
slow  and  laborious  method.  It  requires  less  effort 
to  assume  the  truth  of  a  general  proposition,  and  then 
to  proceed  to  draw  conclusions  about  everything 
included  in  that  general,  than  to  carefully  examine 
each  particular  thing  individually,  and,  from  many 
such  examinations,  to  draw  general  conclusions.  The 
inductive  method  suggests  the  laboratory,  with  all 
its  arduous  work;  while  the  deductive  method  sug- 
gests the  drawing-room  and  the  easy-chair,  possibly 
the  library.  (5)  Unless  all  particulars  are  thus  exam- 
ined, general  conclusions  may  not  be  absolutely  true. 

Consequently  there  are:  (a)  perfect  induction  (all 
particulars  examined) ;  (6)  imperfect  induction  (only  a 
large  number  of  particulars  examined).  Perfect  in- 
duction is  sometimes  said  to  be  no  induction  at  all, 
because,  if  all  particulars  are  examined,  there  is  no 
gain  from  an  inference,  all  being  gained  through 
experience.  The  object  of  an  inference  is  to  pass 
beyond  what  can  be  immediately  perceived. 

The  advantages  of  induction  are  gained  from  the 
imperfect  induction  referred  to  above.  A  perma- 


General  Methods  69 

nency  or  constancy  of  natural  law  is  assumed.  Con- 
sequently, from  an  examination  of  a  large  number 
(not  all)  of  particulars,  the  truth  of  the  general  is 
assumed;  as,  what  is  true  of  many  of  a  kind  is  prob- 
ably true  of  all.  Thus,  if  after  examining  a  large 
number  of  horses  we  find  they  have  incisors  in  both 
jaws,  we  infer  that  all  horses  have  incisors  in  both 
jaws.  The  truth  of  this  inference  depends  on  the 
constancy  of  the  natural  law.  Should  that  constancy 
fail,  our  inference  would  be  erroneous. 

There  is,  too,  what  may  be  called  (a)  conscious, 
(b)  unconscious  induction.  It  is  very  probable  that 
many  of  our  general  ideas  appear  in  consciousness 
as  a  result  of  sense  experience  and  subconscious 
cerebrations,  with  no  conscious  effort,  on  our  part, 
to  form  such  ideas.  This  is  doubtless  true  in  the 
earliest  years  of  child-life.  Manifestly  such  uncon- 
scious induction  is  subject  to  such  errors  as  result 
from  unguided  activity.  Thus,  subjective  states  often 
influence  the  physiological  activities  of  the  senses, 
as  in  hallucinations;  and,  as  when  a  child  sees  ghosts/* 
People  are  sometimes  said  to  see  what  they  want  to 
see,  i.  e.,  the  sense-organs  may  be  affected  by  the 
states  of  consciousness,  making  the  testimony  of  the 
senses  unreliable;  hence,  carelessness,  prejudice,  pre- 
conceived notions,  over- enthusiasm,  indifference,  and, 
above  all,  slovenliness,  are  liable  to  vitiate  results. 

Conscious  induction  may,  perhaps,  be  best  described 
as  inference  from  material  of  knowledge,  gained  through 
the  senses,  under  the  control  of  the  will.  Manifestly 
such  conscious  induction  must  follow  the  unconscious 
induction,  and  is,  perhaps,  only  possible  after  general 
ideas  have  arisen  by  the  unconscious  processes.  Con- 
scious induction  may,  therefore,  be  partly  a  voluntary 
application  of  the  senses  for  the  purpose  of  proving  or 
disproving  the  correctness  of  our  general  conceptions 
gained  through  unconscious  induction. 


70  Education  through  Nature 

3.  THE  INDUCTIVE-DEDUCTIVE  METHOD  is,  as  the 
name  implies,  a  combination  of  the  two  methods 
already  described.  This  is  probably  the  method  used 
by  all  those  who  achieve  success  in  science.  Indeed 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  true  scientific  work  with 
either  of  those  methods  used  alone.  This  method 
consists  in  first  gathering  the  material  of  knowledge  by 
observation.  From  this  a  general  idea  is  formed  and 
assumed  tentatively  to  be  true.  Deductions  are  then 
made  from  this  general  hypothesis,  and  induction 
again  employed  to  verify  the  truth  of  those  deductive 
inferences.  Thus,  careful  observation  shows  that 
plants  grown  in  sunlight  are  usually  green;  the  infer- 
ence is  that  all  plants  influenced  by  sunlight  develop 
chlorophyll.  This  assumption,  is  held  tentatively 
till  further  induction,  as  to  the  effect  of  sunlight  in 
producing  various  pigments,  as  tanning  the  skin,  is 
secured.  It  being  found  that  sunlight  has  this  effect, 
further  observations  are  made,  which  reveal  the  fact 
that  plants  grown  in  darkness  do  not  develop  chloro- 
phyll, etc.,  from  which  the  soundness  of  the  original 
inference,  having  been  tested,  is  pronounced  true. 

The  advantage  of  this  combined  method  is  that  the 
benefits  of  each  of  the  other  methods  are  secured,  but 
the  disadvantages  eliminated.  Far  more,  too,  can 
be  accomplished  by  this  combination.  The  inductive 
method  is  used  for  the  accumulation  of  material  for 
the  general  idea;  and,  this  knowledge  being  gained, 
is  again  employed  in  the  discovery  of  new  truths. 

General  Considerations.  Observation  and  experi- 
ment, the  method  of  science,  naturally  results  from 
this  inductive-deductive  method  of  reasoning.  The 
successful  man  of  science  is  (a)  a  good  observer,  (b)  a 
good  thinker,  (c)  a  good  worker.  Many  students 
observe  well  and  reason  well;  but,  as  they  put  no 
energy  into  their  work,  accomplish  but  little.  Others 
work,  but  do  not  observe  well;  and  still  others  work 


General  Methods  71 

and  observe  well,  but  lack  that  power  of  reasoning 
which  is  necessary  to  make  diligent  observation  and 
experiment  effective. 

The  inductive  method,  alone,  makes  the  mere  ob- 
server; the  deductive  method  is  chiefly  the  method  of 
the  philosopher  and  the  dreamer.  Students  often 
become  mere  observers,  because  they  lack  the  general 
notions  which  give  meaning  to  the  observations  which 
they  make.  The  true  incentive  to  effort  is  thus  want- 
ing. This  can  often  be  remedied  by  calling  attention 
to  the  larger  problems  underlying  the  subject  of  study. 
Thus  a  general  idea  of  the  theory  of  evolution  by 
natural  selection,  is  the  chief-  cause  of  that  remarkable 
activity  in  biological  research  which  has  been  so 
marked  since  the  appearance  of  Darwin's  "Origin 
of  Species."  There  is  hardly  any  phase  of  biological 
investigation  to-day  that  does  not  owe  its  fascination 
to  the  stimulus  which  that  theory  gives,  and  to  the 
light  which  new  observation  adds  to  the  factors  of 
organic  evolution. 

No  adequate  idea  of  the  full  import  of  this  great 
generalization  can  be  conveyed,  directly,  by  means 
of  language,  as  is  frequently  supposed.  But  some 
phases  of  it,  such  as  the  struggle  for  existence,  can 
be  comprehended  from  observations  on  plant  and 
animal  societies.  Whether  it  is  wise  to  develop  this 
conception  in  the  pupil's  mind  is  a  question  which 
the  teacher  must  decide  according  to  circumstances. 
It  certainly  gives  new  meaning  to  many  facts  in  plant 
and  animal  life  which  otherwise  are  meaningless. 
Darwin's  great  work  was  the  result  of  the  inductive- 
deductive  method.  The  writer  knows,  from  his  own 
experience  as  a  student,  that  many  teachers  of  ad- 
vanced science  are  failures,  as  teachers,  because  they 
do  not  arouse  in  the  student's  mind  those  great  con- 
ceptions which  give  meaning  to  things  observed  by 
the  student,  and  add  that  intellectual  interest  which 


72  Education  through  Nature 

makes  arduous  labor  a  pleasure.  Sentimental  appre- 
ciation is  a  poor  substitute  for  that  intellectual  pleasure 
which  arises  from  the  discovery  of  truths,  revealing 
themselves  as  connecting-links  between  the  known 
and  the  great  unknown. 

IX.  General  Methods  of  Teaching. 

i.  THE  DISCOVERY  METHOD  might  also  be  called 
the  seeing  method.  It  is  the  method  which  the  savage 
uses  in  obtaining  his  empirical  knowledge  of  his  sur- 
roundings. It  may  be  characterized  as  negative 
rather  than  positive,  inasmuch  as  a  controlling  gen- 
eral idea  or  hypothesis  is  wanting,  and  no  conscious 
attempt  at  system  is  made. 

This  is  also  the  natural  method  of  the  child.  It  is 
natural  for  the  child  to  move  around  freely  among 
objects,  without  any  reason  known  to  it,  save  that  of  a 
natural  restlessness  accompanying  a  superabundance 
of  energy,  or  that  of  a  vague  curiosity.  In  this  way 
the  child  makes  many  discoveries.  The  liberty  en- 
joyed is  wholesome,  and  therefore  such  activity  is 
interesting.  The  observations  and  discoveries  thus 
made  give  the  keenest  pleasures,  because  they  are 
the  results  of  its  own  spontaneous  activity.  Mere 
seeing,  if  carried  no  further,  however,  would  be  of  little 
value;  but,  as  an  introductory  step,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance.  The  method  and  some  of  its  results  are 
beautifully  expressed  by  Whittier  as  follows: 

O !  for  boyhood's  painless  play, 
Sleep  that  wakes  in  laughing  day, 
Health  that  mocks  the  doctor's  rules, 
Knowledge  never  learned  of  schools: 
Of  the  wild  bee's  morning  chase, 
Of  the  wild  flower's  time  and  place, 
Flight  of  fowl,  and  habitude 
Of  the  tenants  of  the  wood; 
How  the  tortoise  bears  his  shell,     . 
How  the  woodchuck  digs  his  cell, 
And  the  ground-mole  sinks  his  well; 


General  Methods  73 

How  the  robin  feeds  her  young, 
How  the  oriole's  nest  is  hung; 
Where  the  whitest  lilies  blow, 
Where  the  freshest  berries  grow, 
Where  the  ground-nut  trails  its  vine, 
Where  the  wood-grape's  clusters  shine; 
Of  the  black  wasp's  cunning  way, 
Mason  of  his  walls  of  clay, 
And  the  architectural  plans 
Of  gray  hornet  artisans ! 
For,  eschewing  books  and  tasks, 
Nature  answers  all  he  asks; 
Hand  in  hand  with  her  he  walks, 
Part  and  parcel  of  her  joy, 
Blessings  on  the  barefoot  boy. 

2.  THE  INVESTIGATION  METHOD  differs  from  the 
preceding  in  that  something^  definite  is  looked  for  or 
sought.  It  requires  the  exercise  of  the  will  and  there- 
fore is  work.  There  is  in  the  mind  a  hypothesis,  or  a 
question,  that  needs  solution  or  confirmation;  just  as 
in  algebra  the  problem  often  is  to  find  the  value  of  x. 
A  general  idea,  a  general  question  is,  therefore,  the 
underlying  motive;  and  this  guides  and  directs  activi- 
ties, making  them  systematic,  for  the  accomplishment 
of  an  end  in  view. 

The  race  may  be  said  to  have  entered  on  the  scientific 
stage  of  its  development  when  it  began  to  use  this 
method  of  studying  nature.  So  the  individual  may 
be  said  to  pass  from  the  primitive  condition  of  the 
child,  the  amateur,  and  the  dilettante,  to  the  working 
scientist  when  he  adopts  this  method. 

It  differs  from  the  preceding  discovery  method  in 
substituting  the  law  of  necessity  for  the  law  of  liberty; 
reason  for  caprice;  the  hypothesis  for  curiosity;  in- 
tellectual pleasure  for  sentimentality;  and  the  will  for 
listlessness.  It  means  a  body  directed  by  the  mind, 
and  work  performed  under  the  influence  of  the  will. 
It  differs  from  the  preceding  method,  therefore,  in 
(a)  the  motive  to  exertion,  (6)  in  its  orderly  pro- 


74  Education  through  Nature 

ceeding,  (c)  in  its  final  results.  Thus  it  is  often  said 
of  Columbus  that  he  was  an  adventurer,  who  merely 
from  idle  curiosity,  from  a  natural  shiftless  disposition, 
for  mere  excitement,  crossed  the  unknown  waters  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  thus,  by  accident,  discovered  a  new 
world — such  would  be  the  discovery  method. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  also  claimed  that  Columbus 
was  a  student  of  geography,  astronomy,  and  naviga- 
tion; that  he  had  thus  been  made  to  believe  the  world 
to  be  a  sphere,  and,  consequently,  formed  the  hypothe- 
sis that,  by  sailing  west,  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia 
could  be  reached.  He  directed  his  ships  in  the  light 
of  that  hypothesis,  and  found  the  new  world.  In  the 
latter  case  he  employed  the  investigation  method. 
It  makes  us  think  of  Coltlmbus  as  a  scientific  investi- 
gator rather  than  as  an  adventurer. 

Investigation  means  the  search  for  new  truth  by 
the  light  of  what  is  already  known.  Research,  as 
applied  to  advanced  scientific  work,  means  the  investi- 
gation of  phenomena  hitherto  unknown  to  humanity; 
or  the  attempt  to  solve  those  problems  that  have  thus 
far  eluded  solution.  To  do  such  work  the  student 
must  first  appropriate  the  sum  of  human  knowledge 
in  that  particular  department  of  knowledge;  for  it  is 
only  on  arriving  at  the  borderland  separating  the 
known  from  the  unknown  that  valuable  original  re- 
search can  be  done.  Not  the  least  of  the  task  such  a 
student  has  before  him  is  the  understanding  of  the 
problem,  after  the  problem  has  been  found;  for  it  is 
only  by  mere  chance  that  the  solution  to  a  problem  can 
be  found  without  knowing  what  that  problem  is. 

Work  like  this  is,  of  course,  the  work  for  specialists, 
and  may,  therefore,  seem  to  have  no  bearing  on  methods 
of  nature  study.  But  it  may  be  that  the  conditions 
for  the  gaining  of  new  knowledge  are  the  same  for  all 
of  us,  and  that  methods,  in  nature  study,  cannot  en- 
tirely ignore  the  suggestions  which  advanced  work 


General  Methods  75 

may  yield.  In  mathematics,  for  instance,  we  do  not 
set  the  pupil  to  work  merely  to  manipulate  figures, 
according  to  directions  for  each  step.  We  usually 
state  the  problem,  and  seek  to  develop  the  self-activity 
and  ingenuity  of  the  pupil  in  manipulating  figures 
according  as  the  conditions  of  the  problem  may  re- 
quire. It  is  difficult  to  see  how  an  experiment  in 
nature  study  can  be  performed  without  some  similar 
method.  Indeed  one  of  the  essential  conditions  to 
the  performance  of  an  experiment  is  to  state  the  prob- 
lem. The  problem  may  be  stated  by  the  teacher;  but, 
better  still,  the  pupil  may  be  led  to  state  his  own 
problem,  after  having  discovered  that  a  problem  exists. 

The  disadvantages  of  the  investigation  method  in 
nature  study  arise  from  the  fact  that  the  pupil  has 
neither  the  knowledge  nor  the  training  to  enable  him 
to  derive  the  most  benefits  from  its  use.  In  many 
cases  the  necessary  skill  in  manipulation  has  not 
been  acquired;  knowledge  of  the  simplest  elements 
of  the  subject  may  be  wanting.  He  may  not  even 
have  enough  of  a  general  idea  of  the  subject  to  know 
what  the  work  means,  and  is,  consequently,  very  much 
like  a  child  lost  in  the  woods. 

Some  of  the  advantages  of  the  investigation  method 
are,  that  it  develops  independence  and  self-reliance; 
it  develops  originality  in  solving  difficulties  and  gives 
freedom  to  the  creative  instinct.  It  is  well  suited 
to  those  rare  pupils  who  succeed  best  when  let  alone; 
and,  consequently,  give  greatest  promise  of  future 
success. 

3.  THE  THUMB  AND  RULE  METHOD  is  a  method 
sometimes  employed  even  by  teachers  of  advanced 
science.  It  consists  in  laying  down  rules  for  each 
step  to  be  taken  without  stating  the  object  in  view, 
and  then  insisting  that  the  student  do  the  work,  accord- 
ing to  explicit  directions,  sometimes  given  orally,  some- 
times even  printed.  Laboratory  outlines  are  occa- 


76  Education  through  Nature 

sionally  used,  in  which  the  pupil  is  told  how  and 
when  to  pick  up  a  dissecting- needle,  and  just  where 
to  insert  it.  This  is  sometimes  taken  to  be  the  investi- 
gation method,  but  erroneously  so.  The  most  suc- 
cessful teachers  of  advanced  science  never  use  it. 

The  disadvantages  of  such  a  method  are  many.  It 
suggests  the  reform  school;  it  is  mechanical  and  often 
develops  in  the  pupil  a  feeling  of  helplessness,  and  is, 
consequently,  discouraging  rather  than  encouraging; 
it  is  contrary  to  the  nature  of  the  normal  pupil,  and 
consequently  destroys  rather  than  increases  interest. 
In  withholding  from  the  pupil  the  object  of  the  work 
and  the  end  to  be  attained,  it  is  contrary  to  common 
sense;  which  even  a  child  realizes,  when  it  insists 
that  nothing  is  worth  doing  for  the  mere  sake  of  doing 
it.  It  is  especially  distasteful  to  those  pupils  who 
feel  that  they  have  some  ability  of  their  own. 

It  also  has  its  advantages.  It  is  especially  useful 
to  those  who  lack  all  experience,  and  who  are  defi- 
cient in  self-confidence;  it  may  develop  in  the  pupil 
proper  habits  of  work,  such  as  neatness,  carefulness, 
and  attention  to  details;  it  may  encourage  those  who 
naturally  need  encouragement,  and  who  are  unable  to 
exercise  any  amount  of  originality;  it  may  restrain 
the  reckless  and  compel  those  who  are  inclined  to  shirk 
their  work  to  do  their  proper  share  of  it  and  do  it  in 
the  right  way;  it  may  help  to  develop  systematic  habits. 

It  is  very  useful  as  an  introduction  to  a  subject, 
provided  it  be  abandoned  as  soon  as  proper  habits 
have  been  formed.  A  period  or  two  at  the  beginning 
is  often  sufficient,  as  it  enables  the  pupil  to  know  what 
is  expected  of  him.  It  is  doubtless  true  here,  as  else- 
where in  life,  that  freedom  should  be  granted  as  soon 
as  it  has  been  earned.  Nothing  could  be  more  absurd 
than  to  continue  using  this  method  when  it  is  not 
needed,  especially  in  a  subject  where  original  investi- 
gation is  the  aim. 


General  Methods  77 

4.  THE  TEXT-BOOK  AND  RECITATION  METHOD  is 
too  familiar  to  need  any  extended  notice.  It  consists 
in  assigning  lessons  in  a  book,  and  in  due  course  of 
time  calling  on  the  pupils  to  repeat  what  they  have 
learned.  This  is  virtually  reading  about  nature,  and 
then  often  merely  repeating  what  the  author  has  said 
on  the  subject.  On  the  part  of  the  teacher  the  reci- 
tation consists  in  asking  questions  on  the  various  chap- 
ters assigned;  or  else  in  merely  asking  the  pupil  to 
discuss  such  and  such  a  topic  labeled  in  the  book 
with  its  appropriate  title. 

In  this  form  it  is  the  crudest  way  of  teaching  nature 
study.  When  we  consider  that  a  text-book  is  at  best 
only  a  collection  of  the  thoughts  about  natural  objects 
of  some  one  individual,  we  must  feel  that  this  is  not 
nature  study  at  all.  It  is  book  study.  The  word 
comes  before  the  idea,  and  the  pupil  is  either  merely 
interpreting  symbols,  reading  his  own  confused  thoughts 
into  the  author's  language,  or  else  merely  repeating 
words  which  mean  nothing  to  him.  Nature  study  is 
reacting  to  the  real  object,  coming  face  to  face  with 
the  thing,  and  getting  ideas,  or  the  elements  of  ideas, 
through  actual  sensation.  Before  this  has  been 
done  the  text-book  is  merely  a  riddle,  taxing  the 
pupil's  ingenuity  to  guess  what  it  all  means.  It  is 
very  much  like  asking  a  child  to  tell  all  about  a  thing, 
but  insisting  before  doing  so  that  he  must  not  see, 
hear,  touch,  taste,  smell,  or  handle  it. 

The  best  that  can  be  said  of  this  method  is  that  it 
is  better  than  nothing  at  all,  especially  if  the  text  is 
illustrated  and  the  meaning  of  the  illustration  explained 
by  the  teacher.  Pupils  often  consider  figures  in  text- 
books as  mere  ornaments,  not  realizing  that  the  figures 
are  intended  to  explain  the  text.  Manifestly  nature 
study,  in  this  form,  cannot  be  introduced  before  the 
pupil  has  learned  to  read.  This  again  is  reversing 
the  order  of  nature.  For  one  important  object  of 


78  Education  through  Nature 

nature  study  is  to  make  reading  possible  to  the  pupil. 
The  order  of  development  as  it  is  now  understood  is 
this:  (i)  object,  (2)  sensation,  (3)  idea,  (4)  word,  (5) 
language,  (6)  book.  The  text-book  method  reverses 
this  order.  Considering  the  place  which  the  text- 
book has  held  throughout  the  ages,  in  all  school  work, 
it  is  difficult  to  suppress  the  thought  that  education 
in  the  past  has  been  realized,  in  the  primary  schools, 
in  spite  of  their  methods  rather  than  by  their  aid. 

Yet  this  method  is  not  without  its  advantages.  It 
enables  a  teacher,  whose  little  learning  is  a  dangerous 
thing,  to  hear  lessons  in  nature  study.  She  may  buy 
a  book  on  natural  history  and  learn  something  about 
what  others  know  about  the  subject. 

There  is  a  second  way  of  using  the  text-book  which 
is  not  so  objectionable.  This  consists  in  using  the 
text-book  as  supplementary  to  the  objects  themselves; 
or  else  in  assigning  lessons  in  the  book,  but  supple- 
menting the  latter  by  object  study,  so  as  to  render 
the  meaning  of  the  book  intelligible.  This,  of  course, 
is  possible  only  in  the  upper  grades.  Indeed  some 
eminent  teachers  and  investigators  insist  on  the  use 
of  a  text-book  in  lower  classes.  When  accompanied 
with  object  study  the  book  adds  definiteness  to  the 
work  and  variety  to  the  method.  It  also  serves  as  a 
program  and  as  a  course  of  study,  enabling  the  teacher 
to  determine  by  tests  just  what  the  pupil  has  accom- 
plished, and  consequently  what  more  can  be  done  for 
him.  A  judicious  combination  of  the  text-book  and 
laboratory  method  seems  very  desirable  in  the  upper 
grammar  grades. 

5.  THE  LABORATORY  METHOD  is  a  general  term 
frequently  used  in  contrast  to  the  text-book  method; 
i.  e.,  the  study  of  the  object  itself.  It  refers  to  the  fact 
that  the  work  is  often  done  in  a  laboratory — a  place 
often,  but  not  necessarily,  distinct  from  the  recitation- 
room,  and  supplied  with  material  and  apparatus  for 


General  Methods  79 

carrying  on  the  work  necessary  to  a  thorough  study  of 
the  object.  Thus  there  are  chemical  laboratories- 
physical  laboratories,  biological  laboratories,  and  psy, 
chological  and  physiological  laboratories. 

Physiology,  studied  by  the  laboratory  method, 
means  the  study  of  the  actual  organs  of  plants  and 
animals  by  means  of  apparatus,  determining  the  rate 
of  the  heart-beat,  of  the  pulse,  the  contraction  of  mus- 
cles, and  the  effect  of  various  stimuli  on  nervous  action, 
and  the  action  of  the  various  digestive  fluids  on  various 
kinds  of  food,  etc. 

The  concrete  study  of  human  beings  in  society,  such 
as  cities,  penal  institutions,  schools,  railroads  and  fac- 
tories, etc.,  is  sometimes  called  sociology  or  economics 
by  the  laboratory  method. 

A  well-equipped  laboratory  for  nature-study  work 
is,  of  course,  desirable,  but  not  absolutely  essential. 
The  ordinary  school-desks  can  be  made  to  suffice  for 
all  the  nature-study  work  of  the  grades.  Simple  dis- 
secting-needles,  with  hand-lenses  and  a  compound 
microscope  if  possible,  will  suffice  as  apparatus.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  a  better  equipment  would  be 
advantageous  and  very  often  possible. 

The  recitation  is  used,  also,  in  connection  with 
the  laboratory  method.  The  aims  of  these  recita- 
tions may  be  arranged  in  two  groups,  according  as 
the  object  is  mainly  (a)  to  instruct  or  (b)  to  test.  These 
two  aims  cannot  be  absolutely  separated  in  practice; 
yet  it  is  clear,  that,  in  work  of  this  kind,  where  so 
much  depends  on  methods  of  manipulation,  skill  in 
seeing,  etc.,  the  instruction  should  come  much  earlier 
than  the  final  test  of  knowledge. 

The  methods  used  in  recitation  may  be  the  50- 
cratic,  Catechetical,  and  Developmental.  These  terms 
are  frequently  used  synonymously;  but  it  is  desirable 
to  distinguish  between  the  first,  or  Socratic  method, 
and  the  Catechetical  or  Developmental  methods. 


8o  Education  through  Nature 

6.  THE  SOCRATIC  METHOD  was  first  used  by  Soc- 
rates as  the  term  suggests.  He  was  a  philosopher 
whose  chief  aim,  as  a  teacher,  was  instruction.  The 
method  consists  in  dialogue  between  the  teacher 
and  the  pupil.  The  questions,  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher,  are  so  put  as  to  lead  the  pupil  to  see  things 
from  different  points  of  view;  to  develop  in  the  pupil's 
mind  certain  lines  of  inquiry,  which  involve  definite 
problems,  and  hence  lead  the  pupil,  not  only  to  ask 
pertinent  questions,  but  also  to  discover  how  those 
very  questions  can  be  answered  by  his  own  skill  and 
effort.  This  may  not  seem  very  much  like  instruc- 
tion; yet  it  is  the  kind  of  instruction  which  is  ulti- 
mately of  most  value;  because  it  does  not  supply 
immediate  needs,  as  when  you  give  the  indigent 
bread;  but  rather  creates  that  unsatisfied  feeling 
which  spurs  on  to  renewed  effort;  as  when  you  enable 
the  indigent  to  take  pride  in  earning  his  own  livelihood. 

The  advantage  of  this  method  lies  in  the  freedom 
of  discussion.  The  pupil  is  not  made  to  feel,  at  the 
outset,  that  his  inner  consciousness  is  being  pried 
into;  or  that  he  is  exposing  his  own  fearful  ignorance. 
He  is  rather  made  to  feel  that  he  is  adding  his  mite 
to  that  of  the  teacher's,  in  devising  means  and  finding 
solutions  to  problems.  It  is,  therefore,  a  valuable 
means  of  correcting  errors  in  methods  of  observation, 
by  indirectly  leading  the  pupils  to  see  things  in  a 
new  light;  and,  consequently,  to  realize  their  own 
errors  and  shortcomings,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  valuable  introduction  to  the  ex- 
perimental part  of  the  work.  An  experiment  might 
be  defined  as  one's  attempt  to  solve  one's  own  prob- 
lems by  manipulation  of  nature.  Of  course,  before 
such  experiment  is  possible,  there  must  be  a  question 
or  a  problem  in  the  mind.  The  definite  statement  o)  the 
problem  should  be  one  of  the  results  of  the  discussion. 

The  chief  difficulty  to  be  guarded  against  in  this 


General  Methods  81 

method  is  the  proneness  to  answer  the  questions 
that  arise,  instead  of  so  arranging  matters  that  the 
pupil  can  succeed  in  finding  the  answers  by  his  own 
ingenuity  and  efforts,  after  the  questions  have  been 
clearly  comprehended  by  him.  Thus:  Is  there  any 
difference  between  the  upper  and  lower  surface  of  a 
leaf?  Has  this  difference  anything  to  do  with  the 
relation  of  the  two  surfaces  to  sunlight?  These 
questions  can  be  answered  by  referring  the  pupil  to 
the  leaf,  and  leading  him  to  see  the  position  of  the 
leaf  on  the  plant,  with  reference  to  the  source  of  light; 
and  then,  comparing  that  leaf  with  a  different  leaf 
having  both  surfaces  equally  exposed.  The  answer 
in  this  case  is  not  so  important,  educationally,  as  is 
the  power  developed  in  finding  the  solution. 

7.  THE  CATECHETICAL  OR  DEVELOPMENTAL 
METHOD  consists  in  asking  questions,  to  be  answered 
by  the  pupil,  orally;  the  aim  being,  (i)  to  test  the 
pupil's  success  in  learning  his  lesson,  (2)  to  develop 
the  subject  in  the  pupiPs  mind,  so  as  to  make  the 
relation  of  one  fact  to  another  clear  to  him.  It  is 
self-evident  that  an  opportunity  for  acquiring  the 
material  for  knowledge  must  be  provided,  before 
such  a  test  can  be  required.  Furthermore,  the  facts 
and  the  images  of  objects  must  be  present  in  the  mind 
before  that  material  can  be  developed  into  a  consis- 
tent whole. 

The  disadvantage  of  this  method  is  that  it  is  the 
easiest  method  for  the  teacher  to  adopt,  requiring 
least  effort,  least  skill,  and  least  preparation.  Except 
in  metaphysics  and  higher  mathematics,  it  is  a  vicious 
method  if  allowed  to  usurp  the  place  of  all  other 
methods.  Many  teachers  abuse  it,  by  assuming  that 
what  has  never  entered  the  child's  mind  through  the 
senses,  or  has  no  foundation  in  his  experience,  can, 
nevertheless,  be  coaxed  out  of  his  inner  consciousness 
much  as  a  system  of  logic  is  elaborated. 


82  Education  through  Nature 

The  method  is  useful  in  nature  study  for  at  least 
two  purposes,  provided  it  is  adopted  at  the  proper 
time,  in  the  investigation  of  a  given  subject.  First, 
it  is  valuable  in  testing  the  pupil's  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  after  he  has  completed  his  observation.  This 
testing  is  of  very  great  importance;  for  many  pupils, 
like  most  mortals,  need  the  touch  of  the  stern  hand 
of  necessity  to  spur  them  on  to  meet  an  emergency 
and  do  their  best  work.  Second,  it  is  useful  in  pro- 
moting a  proper  assimilation  of  materials  of  knowledge, 
gained  through  experience.  By  it  facts  are  recalled, 
the  subject  reviewed,  and  the  meaning  of  the  whole 
often  made  clearer,  by  the  order  in  which  the  questions 
arise  in  the  course  of  the  natural  development  of  the 
subject. 

8.  THE  LECTURE  OR  TELLING  METHOD  is  the 
method  of  communicating  ideas  by  means  of  oral 
language.  The  teacher  speaks  to  the  class  about 
the  subject,  answering  those  questions  which  he 
imagines  to  arise,  naturally,  in  the  pupiPs  mind; 
and  giving  such  information,  in  a  connected  way,  as 
he  believes  the  pupil  ought  to  know. 

This  method  is  liable  to  abuse,  because  the  word 
is  apt  to  come  before  the  idea;  the  symbol  for  the 
thing  signified.  Thus  the  lecture  very  often  becomes 
a  meaningless  harangue,  by  which  no  real  com- 
munication of  ideas  actually  takes  place.  This  is 
especially  true  when  the  lecture  deals  with  things 
lying  outside  of  the  actual  experience  of  the  pupil, 
and  when  conveyed  in  language  or  in  terms  that  are 
unfamiliar  to  him. 

It  has  the  advantage  of  affording  the  teacher  an 
opportunity  to  impress  upon  the  pupil  his  own  per- 
sonality, by  voice  and  gesture,  and  to  arouse  feelings 
and  enthusiasm  for  the  work.  It  also  is  an  admirable 
means  for  summarizing  a  subject,  the  details  of  which 
are  already  familiar;  for  putting  things  into  their 


General  Methods  83 

logical  connections,  and  thus  assisting  the  pupil  in 
bringing  order  out  of  chaos.  The  contention  that 
this  telling  method  should  never  be  used,  in  nature 
study,  is  foolish.  There  are  many  facts  that  the  pupil 
cannot  discover  for  himself,  which  can  be  supplied  in 
this  way,  and  which  are  often  necessary  to  render 
the  student's  own  observations  clear.  Care  must, 
of  course,  be  taken  not  to  use  terms  or  language  with 
which  the  pupil  has  not  become  familiar.  For,  strictly 
speaking,  men  can  communicate  with  each  other 
only  in  a  common  language,  and  with  ideas  that  are 
already  familiar  to  both.  The  idea  must  come  before 
the  word;  but  new  combinations  of  ideas  can  be 
produced  by  a  carefully  prepared  lecture.  It  is  safe 
to  say,  also,  that,  in  arranging  such  a  lecture  or  sum- 
mary, the  teacher  derives  fully  as  much  benefit  as 
does  the  pupil;  and  a  growing  teacher  is  always  an 
inspiration,  even  to  a  child. 

9.  THE  CONFIRMATION  METHOD  is  the  method  of 
seeing  what  has  first  been  told  the  pupil.  Thus  a 
subject  might  be  introduced  by  a  lecture,  in  which 
it  is  pointed  out  what  is  to  be  found  in  the  object  and 
where  it  is  to  be  found.  Laboratory  guides  are  fre- 
quently used  for  such  a  purpose. 

This  method  has  the  disadvantage  of  robbing  the 
pupil  of  the  pleasure  of  discovery  and  invention;  and 
of  making  him  a  mere  machine  for  seeing  what  is 
already  known.  It  is  certainly  not  well  suited  to 
develop  the  investigator;  although,  for  mature  stu- 
dents, as  well  as  for  the  teacher,  it  may  not  be  as 
harmful  as  in  the  lower  grades. 

Where  lack  of  time  exists,  as  is  so  often  the  case 
with  the  teacher,  it  may  be  of  advantage  to  him  to 
use  this  method  in  preparing  for  his  work.  Knowing 
enough  about  the  subject  to  understand  the  lecture 
or  the  book,  time  can  be  saved  by  confirming,  by 
observation  and  experiment;  what  the  author  or 


84  Education  through  Nature 

authority  has  said  on  the  subject.  It  may  occa- 
sionally be  used,  also,  but  with  caution,  in  the  lower 
grades.  Demonstrations  by  the  teacher  in  connec- 
tion with  the  telling  method  partake  of  the  character 
of  this  confirmation  method. 

X.  Special  Method  of  Teaching  Nature  Study. 

INTRODUCTION. — It  seems  self-evident  that  all  of 
the  methods  considered  in  the  previous  section  are 
good  when  properly  used;  and,  of  course,  bad  when 
improperly  used.  In  most  cases,  the  latter  is  true, 
when  any  one  of  those  methods  is  used  exclusively. 
Teachers  are  so  apt  to  get  a  tardy  idea  now  and  then, 
which  seems  like  a  revelation  to  them.  In  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  it  is  only  a  belated  view  of  the  other  side 
of  the  mountain. 

In  forming  a  method  of  our  own  that  shall  possess 
a  maximum  of  the  valuable  and  a  minimum  of  the 
worthless  in  existing  methods,  we  have  to  consider, 
from  all  sides,  three  important  factors:  (a)  the  pupil, 
(6)  the  object  to  be  studied,  and  (c)  the  method. 

If  our  aim  in  nature  study  were  merely  to  give  the 
pupil  a  knowledge  of  the  object  studied,  we  might 
say  that  our  task  in  forming  a  method  is  to  so  bring 
the  pupil  and  the  object  together  as  to  develop  in 
the  former  an  understanding  of  the  latter.  This 
might,  perhaps,  answer  in  the  case  of  advanced  sci- 
ence teaching,  where  it  is  virtually  assumed  to  be 
the  sole  aim;  but  it  is  a  conception  too  narrow  for 
nature  study. 

A  subject  in  nature  study  has  many  sides,  many 
divisions,  offering  each  its  own  problems,  which 
require  their  own  specific  method  of  treatment.  Inas- 
much as  the  pupil,  too,  has  his  many-sidedness,  which 
we  have  to  keep  in  view,  we  shall  do  best  if  we  succeed 
in  making  such  a  combination  of  methods  as  the 
laws  of  psychology  would  dictate  on  the  one  hand, 


General  Methods  85 

and  the  nature  of  the  subject  require  on  the  other 
hand. 

I. 

THE  OBJECT. — What  are  the  natural  divisions  of 
an  object  of  study,  and  which  of  our  general  methods 
is  suited  to  each  of  these  divisions,  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  suited  to  the  variously  devel- 
oped powers  of  the  pupil? 

1.  Each   living  thing  can  be   studied   (#)  as  con- 
sisting of  parts,  or  (b)  as  a  whole,  and  (c)  as  having 
relation  to  other  things,  environment. 

2.  Both  as  a  whole  and  as  parts,  the  object  may 
be  studied,  (a)  as  regards  its  morphology  (origin,  his- 
tory, form,  or  structure),  (b)  as  regards  its  physiology 
(use,  function,  or  work). 

3.  The  study  of  an  object  in  each  and  all  of  the 
divisions  above    may  consist  (a)  in  ascertaining  the 
isolated  facts.     But  this  gathered  material  (b)  must 
be  combined  with  what  is  already  in  the  mind,  must 
be  assimilated,  and  generalized  or  apperceived. 

4.  When  facts  have  been  thus  built  up  into  a  sys- 
tem of  knowledge,   there   still   remains   the   step   of 
expressing   the   ideas   gained    (a)    orally    (recitation), 
(b)  by  the  hand  (drawing),  (c)  by  the  pen  (writing). 

II. 

THE  PUPIL. — Normal  development  is  a  general 
concept,  which  implies:  (a)  physical  development, 
(b)  intellectual  development,  (c)  moral  development. 

i.  We  have  a  right  to  assume  that  the  pupil  has 
(a)  some  power,  (b)  some  knowledge.  He  needs 
more  of  both.  Are  we  to  assume  that  all  knowledge 
and  all  power  which  the  pupil  is  capable  of  can  be 
developed  by  merely  "drawing  it  out" — merely 
spinning  it  out  of  his  own  inner  consciousness  ?  Then 
we  have  no  need  of  nature  study. 


86  Education  through  Nature 

That  which  the  pupil  has  not,  because  he  has  been 
unable  to  get  it,  must  be  imparted. 

2.  We  have  a  right  to  assume  that  the  pupil  has 
some    power  of   (a)   sense    perception,    (b)   thinking, 

(c)  judgment,    (d)   imagination,    (e)   expression.     But 
these  powers  are  inaccurate. 

Such  inaccurate  use  of  powers  must  be  remedied  by 
training. 

3.  We  have  a  right  to  assume,  also,  that  the  pupil 
has  at  least  the  germs  of  the  principal  moral  elements, 

(d)  ethical,    (b)    aesthetic,    (c)    ideals,    (d)    character. 
But    these,    very   probably,    are   rudimentary.    Such 
rudimentary  elements  must  be  developed. 

4.  To  briefly  summarize,  then,  our  task  seems  to 
be:    (d)  to  impart  (knowledge,  power);    (b)  to  train 
(sense-perception,    thinking,    judgment,    imagination, 
expression);    (c)   to  develop   (the  sense  of  right  and 
truth,  the  sense  of  the  beautiful,  higher  ideals,  char- 
acter).    Let  us  keep  these  things  in  mind  in  develop- 
ing our  method! 

III. 

THE  METHOD. — A  method  is  not  for  its  own  sake. 
It  is  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  an  end  in  view. 
Teaching  should  have  an  aim.  Too  often  that  aim 
is  the  ease  of  the  teacher.  The  pupil  is  a  living, 
growing  thing.  The  true  aim  of  education  and  a 
rational  method  for  realizing  that  aim  cannot  be 
comprehended  until  the  laws  of  life  and  growth  are 
understood.  Teachers,  because  they  have  not  under- 
stood life  and  growth,  have  all  along  been  playing 
with  ideas,  much  as  "children  play  marbles  for  keeps." 
Ask  them  what  these  ideas  are,  or  how  they  come  to 
be  at  all,  of  course,  they  do  not  know.  That  ideas 
do  appear,  with  or  without  a  teacher,  with  or  without 
a  book,  is  certain. 

Life   and   growth   implies   change.    A   method   to 


General  Methods  $7 

be  adapted  to  such  conditions,  must  also  be  capable 
of  change.  Such  an  ideal  method  can  exist  only  in 
the  sane  mind  of  the  earnest  teacher.  The  only  true 
method  is  the  method  arising  spontaneously  in  the 
mind,  that  comprehends  fundamental  principles,  and 
is  able  to  adapt  means  to  ends.  The  proper  use  of 
a  method  requires  (a)  intelligence,  (b)  earnestness, 
and  (c)  energy. 

A  formal  method,  such  as  the  one  here  proposed, 
may  serve  other  purposes  than  that  for  which  it  is 
ostensibly  intended  —  practical  use.  Indeed,  many 
apologies  would  have  to  be  made  for  presenting  such 
a  general  formal  scheme  as  this  one,  if  it  were  not 
confidently  believed  that  it  may  lead  the  teacher  (a) 
to  think,  (b)  to  plan,  (c)  to  execute  according  to  his 
better  judgment  and  the  circumstances  amid  which 
he  is  placed. 

Thus,  if  we  realize  the  fact  that  the  simplest  natural 
object  is  very  imperfectly  understood  by  the  wisest 
among  us,  and  that  the  way  to  get  a  knowledge  of  it, 
combined  with  the  power  which  the  getting  of  that 
knowledge  implies,  is  to  study  that  object  properly, 
we  shall  not  waste  much  time  in  deciding  what  to 
study.  If  our  course  of  study  is  neither  convenient 
nor  practicable  for  our  locality,  we  need  but  take 
that  natural  object  which  at  the  time  is  convenient 
and  adapted  to  our  grade  of  work. 

A  more  difficult  question  is  that  as  to  how  to  study 
it — (a)  how  to  begin,  (b)  how  to  continue,  and  (c) 
how  to  end.  The  following  generalizations  may  aid 
us  in  forming  a  guide  in  this  the  most  difficult  part  of 
our  work. 

Tentative  Generalizations   and  Guiding  Propositions. 

1.  The  most  general  aim  of  nature  study  is  to  pro- 
mote normal  development. 

2.  It  is  not  a  mere  pastime  to  be  resorted  to  in 


88  Education  through  Nature 

school,  on  those  rare  occasions  when  there  is  nothing 
else  to  do. 

3.  Nature  study  is  first  on  the  program  of  life; 
it  should  be  first  on  the  program  of  the  school. 

4.  Nature  study  is  the  study  of  original  sources; 
and  implies  knowledge  of  things,  and  the  power  to 
manipulate  them. 

5.  With  the  knowledge  of  things  and  with  the  ability 
to  manipulate  them,  come  the  arts  and  sciences,  the 
three  r's,  and  geography. 

6.  Development  must  begin  at  the  bottom  of  the 
scale — not  at  the  top. 

7.  In  nature  study  we  rise;  we  do  not  sink. 

8.  Physical    development    may    be    promoted    by 
proper  manipulation  of  the  object  studied. 

9.  Mental  development  may  be  promoted  by  proper 
observation  and  interpretation  of  things. 

10.  Moral  development  may  be  promoted  by  the 
proper  estimation  and  appreciation  of  things. 

11.  Knowledge  and  power  are  mutually  dependent; 
we  cannot  get  out  of  a  thing  what  has  never  been  put 
into  it. 

12.  Sense  perception,  thinking,  judgment,  imagina- 
tion,  and   expression   are   forms   of  activity.     These 
activities  are  being  trained  when  properly  exercised 
in  connection  with  things. 

13.  The    ethical    sense    is    developed    by   constant 
discrimination  between  truth  and  fiction. 

14.  The  child,  like  its  mother,  nature,  is  artless. 
This  artlessness  is  the  badge  of  truth. 

15.  Nature  cannot  be  deceived;    it  is  the  deceiver 
who  is  deceived. 


General  Methods  89 

1 6.  The  love  of  truth  increases  with  the  pursuit  of  it. 

17.  A  false  art  is  that  art  which  violates  the  natural 
ethical  and  moral  law. 

1 8.  The  aesthetic  sense  is  developed  by  the  repeated 
discovery  of  the  fitness  of  things. 

19.  Nature  study  is  not  the  end  of  arts  and  science; 
it  is  the  beginning  of  them. 

20.  Higher  ideals  are  developed  by  the  discovery 
of  the  laws  underlying  the  fitness  of  things. 

21.  Expression  of  appreciation  of  things  unknown 
to  us  is  much  ado  about  nothing. 

22.  The  things  we  appreciate  are  a  measure  of  our 
standards  of  judgment. 

23.  Ideals  do  not  float  around  in  the  air  on  winged 
words;   they  are  a  promise  within  us  of  better  things, 
because  of  our  growth  towards  what  is  ideally  good. 

24.  Encouragement,    not    discouragement,    accom- 
panies healthy  growth. 

25.  Character  is   developed   through   contact   with 
natural  forces,  and  by  the  exercise  of  the  will  in  doing 
that  which  ought  to  be  done,  and  doing  it  in  the  right 
way. 

26.  We  all  sooner  or  later  have  to  become  conscious 
of  three  laws:    (a)  the  law  of  love,  (&)  the  law  of  lib- 
erty, and  (c)  the  law  of  necessity. 

27.  Liberty   is    an   achievement;     and   belongs    to 
those  who  have  earned  it,  by  showing  their  fitness 
for  self-rule. 

28.  To  realize  the  existence  of  the  law  of  necessity, 
is  the  most  important  step  towards  that  moral  freedom 
of  personality  which  we  call  character. 

29.  Neatness  and  accuracy  in  our  work,  like  per- 


9O  Education  through  Nature 

sonal   cleanliness,  often   indicate    a   clean   and   well- 
regulated  mind. 

30.  We  fail  in  our  work  if  our  pupils  are  not  inter- 
ested. 

31.  Mystery  is  an  element  in  child  interest;  hence, 
living  things  are  more  interesting  than  dead  ones. 

32.  Consciousness  of  success  in  overcoming  diffi- 
culties increases  interest. 

33.  We  prize  results  that  have  cost  us  some  effort. 

34.  Few  pleasures  equal  that  of  an  original  dis- 
covery. 

35.  The    power    to    achieve,   resulting    from  well- 
directed  effort,  is  of  greater  value  than  a  single  achieve- 
ment. 

36.  Knowing  and  doing — mind  and  body — cannot 
be  separated  without  fatal  consequences  to  both. 

37.  We  learn  to  do  by  doing,  to  spell  by  spelling, 
to  draw  by  drawing,   to  write  by  writing,  provided 
that  in  each  case  we  first  know  what  we  want  to  do, 
what  we  want  to  spell,  what  we  want  to  draw,  and 
what  we  want  to  say. 

38.  The  child  should  have  something  to  say  before 
it  is  called  on  to  say  something. 

39.  Sense-organs,  like  brains,  were  made  for  use. 

40.  The  idea  should  come  through  experience,  before 
the  word  is  given. 

41.  Education  implies  change;    and  change  in  the 
living  world  is  brought  about  by  action  and  reaction. 

42.  We  have  ideas  because  we  have  brains,  and  lan- 
guage because  we  have  ideas  to  express. 


General  Methods  91 

43.  Language  is  the  result  of  ideas,  not  the  cause 
of  them. 

44.  We  are  able  to  get  out  of  a  book  just  as  much 
as  we  are  able  to  put  into  it. 

45.  Study  the  word  "  abomalihari "  as  long  as  you 
please;   it  means  nothing  to  you. 

46.  Time  spent  in  silent  contemplation  of  an  object 
is  well  spent. 

47.  He    who    hesitates    to    express    himself    about 
facts,  when  in  doubt,  usually  hesitates  to  tell  a  lie. 

48.  Fools  jump  at  conclusions;    the  prudent  arrive 
at  them. 

49.  It  is  often  more  important  to  be  able  to  begin 
work  than  it  is  to  finish  it;   for  it  cannot  very  well  be 
finished  before  the  beginning  has  been  made. 

50.  First  steps  are  important  ones;  they  often  deter- 
mine the  final  result. 

51.  The  teacher  should  be  sure  she  has  something 
worth  saying  before  saying  it. 

52.  One  generalization  is  worth  a  hundred  facts; 
but  the  hundred  facts  must  be  had  before  the  gener- 
alization can  safely  be  attempted. 

53.  From  fact  to  theory  is  normal  to  the  child  mind; 
from  fact  to  theory  and  from  theory  back  to    act  is 
normal  to  the  scientific  mind. 

54.  There  is  one  instance  in  nature  study  when  it  is 
a  disgrace  to  the  teacher  to  admit  he  does  not  know 
— when  he  is  too  lazy  to  find  out. 

55.  An  unanswered  question  is  often  more  useful 
to  the  pupil  than  an  answered  one,  provided  means  be 
devised  for  its  solution. 


Education  through  Nature 


56.  There   is   little  danger  of  knowing   too   much 
about  nature;  the  danger  is  all  on  the  other  side. 

57.  He  is  a  poor  teacher  who  does  not    prepare 
his  work. 

58.  There  is  a  limit  to  the  pupil's  power  of  attention. 

59.  Interest  in  school  work  can  be  measured  by 
its  manifestation  outside  the  school. 

60.  Observation  and  experiment  is  the  method  of 
science. 

6 1.  In  the  pursuit   of  knowledge  it  is  absurd  not 
to  use  all  proper  means  at  our  command. 

62.  Every  object  is  a  part  of  a  larger  whole — its 
environment — and  is  itself  composed  of  parts.     The 
same  method  of  study  can,  therefore,  be  used  both 
for  the  whole  and  for  its  parts,  thus: 


Apple-tree. 
Step  i,  n,  m,  iv, 

V,    VI,    VII,    VIII, 
IX,   X. 


root      (step  i,  n,  m,  iv,  v,  vi,  vn, 

vm,  ix,  x); 
stem  (step  i,  n,  in,  iv,  v,  vi,  vn, 

vni,  ix,  x); 
leaf  (step  i,  n,  m,  iv,  v,  vi,  vn, 

vni,  ix,  x); 
flower  (step  i,  n,  m,  rv,  v,  vi,  vn, 

vni,  ix,  x); 
fruit  (step  i,  n,  in,  rv,  v,  vi,  vn, 

vm,  ix,  x). 

63.  Proceed  from  the  more  extensive  to  the  more 
intensive  study  of  things. 

64.  The  basis  of  interest  in  lower  grades  must  be 
variety;    this  should  gradually  give  place  in  upper 
grades  to  a  desire  for  thoroughness. 

65.  The  teacher  who  is  neither  thorough  nor  en- 


General  Methods 


93 


thusiastic  in  this  work  can  hardly  expect  his  pupils  to 
be  so. 

66.  The  teacher  should  gradually  become  unneces- 
sary to  the  pupil;  just  as  this  guide  should  gradually 
become  unnecessary  to  the  teacher. 


XI.  Teacher's  Guide  for  Handy  Reference.* 


Step  I.— SEEING 

(Discovery) , 


i.  Asa  whole 


2.  As  parts 


1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  lines 

5.  angles 

6.  surfaces. 

1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  lines 

5.  angles 

6.  surfaces. 


T  i.  Color 

1  2.  form 

I.  As  a  whole     |  3.  size 

origin 

Meaning  of   -{4.  lines 

and 

Step  IL—  DISCUSSION  , 

15.  angles 
6.  surfaces 
7.  properties 

history. 

(Socratic) 

i.  color           | 

2.  form 

2.  As  parts 

3.  size              1  causes 

.     Variations  of 

•  4.  lines            -\  effects 

5.  angles 

uses. 

6.  surfaces 

7.  properties 

i.  color 

2.  form 

StepHI.—  COMPARING  j  With  related 
\THumb  and  Rule)         \      Jgi"  < 

3.  size 
4.  texture 
5.  covering 

uses 
and 
classifi- 
cation. 

6.  movements 

7.  properties 

*  See  Part  I,  Chapter  IV,  Section  XII. 


94  Education  through  Nature 


f    !• 

food 

'  I 

2 

.  plants     )       J   *' 
.  animals  \        1  r" 

homes 
neighbors 

3.  elevation 
Step  IV.-FIELD  LESSON    4-  temp=e 
(Confirmation)              \  5         ,    . 
Relation  of  the  object  to        6    H  ^t 

7.  moisture 

8~~:i 

4- 

L* 
r  i. 

2. 

societies 
instincts 

economic  uses 
aesthetic,  educa- 
tional,    and 
moral  uses 

.    PWU 

3. 

characters  essen- 

u 

.  man 

tial  to  its  uses 

4- 

characters  essen- 

tial in  struggle 

for  existence 

5- 

how    influenced 

by  man 

6. 

what  general  in- 

fluence   on 

man,  etc. 

r  i.  soil 

i 

2.  light 

functions 

Step  V.—  EXPERIMENTA-  ) 
TION 

(Investigation)       ) 

effects 

of      " 

3.  heat 

5.  gravit) 
6.  air 

tropisms 

7.  electricity       U1*a11 

w  8.  chemicals 

I 

3 


Step  VI.— RECI- 
TATION. 


i.  Morphology 


1.  history     "| 

2.  form         !     £  j  i- 

3.  structure  [       (2. 
L  4.  origin      J 


whole 
organs 


How  related  to 

work  of 
2.  Physiology 


How  related  to 
3.  Ecological 
factors 


i.  function- 


2.  uses  of 


'i.  nutrition 

2.  circulation 

3.  respiration 

4.  secretion 

5.  excretion 

6.  motion 


1.  food 

2.  light 

3.  heat 

4.  soil 

5.  water 

6.  chemicals 


i: 


struggle  for  existence 
adaptations 


General  Methods 


95 


Step  VII.— SUPPLEMENT- 
ARY INFORMATION 

(Lecture,  Telling) 


f  i.  facts  reviewed  in  natural  order 

2.  meaning  of  observed  facts 

3.  new  facts  and  new  relation  of  facts 

4.  some  truths  emphasized 

5.  subject  vitalized  by  the  teacher 

6.  the  whole  summarized 

7.  reference  to  literature 


Step   VIII.— REP- 
RESENTATION - 

(Drawing) 


Step  IX.— EXPRES- 
SION 
(Writing) 


Step  X.— READING 


I. 

C  i.  color  or  shade     )    art"  t* 
As  a  whole  \  2.  form  or  outline  >  ,  j-  !s  I(TN 

f  i.  color  or  shade    *| 

)  2.  form  or  outline   |       ^rt1 

2. 

as  parts 

13.  size 
4.  structure 

I              M&CU 

[     (near) 

5.  appendages 

J 

3- 

Stages  of 

i.  whole 

growth 

2.  parts 

I 

] 

.  spelling 

'  i.  prose      2 

tsSSS-jfss-a, 

- 

I 

.  punctuation    v  ' 

.5 

.  capitalization 

(  i.  nature  poetry 

.2.  />oe/ry-<  2.  understanding 

(  3.  appreciation 

i.  form 

2.  language 
3.  facts 

i.  criticism 

r 

composition 

-  4.  terms 
5.  spelling 
6.  penmanship 

2.  grading 

\ 

Cj.  expression 

2.  supplementary  sources        ) 

3.  nature  poetry  and  stories    }ont°Plc 


PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  I  (Seeing). 

Motto:  "Because  our  understanding  cannot  in  this 
body  found  itself  but  on  sensible  things,  nor  arrive  so 
clearly  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and  things  invisible, 
as  by  orderly  conning  over  the  visible  and  inferior 
creature,  the  same  method  is  necessary  to  be  followed 
in  all  discreet  teaching" — Milton. 


96  Education  through  Nature 


Analysis — seeing  - 


i.  as  a  whole 


1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  lines 

5.  angles 

6.  surfaces 


2.  as  parts 


1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  lines 

5.  angles 

6.  surfaces 

1.  PREPARATION:  (a)  Provide  plenty  of  fresh  spec- 
imens,   showing    all    essential    features;     (b)   provide 
each  pupil  with  paper  and  pencil. 

2.  TIME:    From  one  to  several  periods,  depending 
on    attention    and    interest.     (See    Primary    Method, 
Chapter  IV,  Section  XII.) 

3.  METHOD:   Discovery  (i).   (See  Part  I,  Chapter  II, 
Sect'on  IX.) 

4.  AIM:     (a)    To    encourage    self-activity;     (fc)    to 
stimulate  interest;    (c)  to   enable    the  pupil   to   esti- 
mate his  own  powers.     (See  Primary  Method,  Chap- 
.ter  IV,  Section  XII.) 

«).  POINT:     Superficial   characters   are   the   first   to 
attract  attention. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)   Let  the  pupil  observe  si- 
lently;   (b)  let  him  note  down  each  observation  in  a 
separate,  well- formed  sentence,  numbering  each;    (c) 
teach  the  use  of  capitals  and  period;  (d)  give  directions 
for  the  next  lesson.      (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:   Ask  each  pupil 
to  bring  fresh  specimens  of  the  same  kind. 

8.  NOTE:    When  pressed  for  time  one  grade  may  be 
doing  this  work  as  seat  work  or  occupation,  while  the 
teacher  is  occupied  with  other  grades. 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  II  (Discussion). 
Motto :  " Nature  wills  that  children  should  be  children 
before    they   are   men.   ...   Childhood    has   ways   of 


origin  and  his- 
tory 


2.  as  parts 
variations  of 


uses,  causes 
and  effects 


\JT     inc.  •    m 

I   UNIVERSITY    I 
j 

General  Methods  97 

seeing,  thinking,  Reeling  peculiar  to  itself;  nothing  is 
more  absurd  than  to  wish  to  substitute  ours  in  their 
place. ' ' — Rousseau. 

1.  color 

2.  form 
fi.  as  a  whole         3.  size 

meaning  oH  4.  lines 
•  5.  angles 

6.  surfaces 
Analysis— discuss  \  l  ?'  properties 

1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  lines 

5.  angles 

6.  surfaces 

.  7.  properties 

1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Decide  from  the  work  of  the 
first  step  what  assistance  the  class  as  a  whole  needs; 
(b)  decide  what  individual  instruction  and  criticism 
should  be  given;    (c)  in  matters  that  are  too  obscure 
for  the   pupil  unaided  arrange   questions   in  such  a 
way  that  the  pupil  can  see  it  by  re-examining  the 
specimen. 

2.  TIME:    One    period.      (See    Primary    Method, 
Part  I,  Chapter  IV,  Section  XII.) 

3.  METHOD:   Socratic  (6)  (See  Part  I,  Chapter  II, 
Section  IX). 

4.  AIM:    (a)  To  arouse  curiosity;    (b)  to  sharpen 
discrimination;    (c)  to  cause  questions  to  arise  in  the 
pupil's  mind;    (d)  to  lead  him  to  suggest  means  of 
testing  those  questions;    (e)  to  cause  him  to  look  for 
particulars  that  might  aid  in  the  solution  of  more 
general  problems;    (/)  to  suggest  better  methods  of 
seeing  and  taking  notes;    (g)  to  show  him  the  impor- 
tance of  carefulness  and  neatness;    (h)  to  encourage 
him.     (See  Chapter  II.) 

5.  POINT:   (a)  A  question  in  the  mind  often  enables 
us  to ^  see  things  that :  otherwise  escape  us;    (6)  the 


98  Education  through  Nature 

relation  of  one  thing  or  fact  to  another  is  as  important 
as  the  thing  or  fact  itself. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Lead  the  pupil  to  ask  such 
questions  as,  how  did  this  and   that   arise;     (b)  of 
wh^t  use  are  the  different  parts;   (c)  how  did  different 
parts  come  to  differ;    (d)  what  is  the  cause  and  what 
the  effect  of  the  difference;    (e)  what  would  be  the 
effect  if  things  were  not  what  they  are?     (See  Chap- 
ter IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:    Ask  pupils  to 
bring  different  specimens  showing  one  or  more  resem- 
blance to  the  one  studied. 

8.  NOTE  :     Do  not  answer  the  pupiVs  questions  at 
this  time,  but  suggest  ways  in  which  the  answer  could 
be  found  by  comparison  and  experiment. 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  III  (Comparing). 

Motto:    "The  education  of  a  naturalist  now  consists 
chiefly  of  learning  how  to  compare" — Agassiz. 


Analysis — compare  with  related 
objects  as  regards 


1.  color 

2.  form 

3.  size 

4.  texture 

5.  covering 

6.  movements 

7.  properties 


uses  and  classifica- 
tion 


1.  PREPARATION:    (a)   Study  related  forms  noting 
specific  and  generic  differences;    (b)  provide  plenty  of 
fresh  specimens  of  those  different  forms. 

2.  TIME:  As  many  periods  as  there  are  specimens 
compared. 

3.  METHOD:  Thumb  and  Rule.     (3.)     (See  Part  I, 
Chapter  II,  Section  IX.) 

4.  AIM:    (a)  More  care  in  seeing;    (b)  sharpen  dis- 
crimination   and    train   judgment    (see    Chapter  II) ; 
(c)  form  the  habit  of  discovering  similarities  and  dif- 
terences;  (d)  develop  the  habit  of  using  what  is  already 
known,  in  discrimination  of  less  obvious  distinctions, 


General  Methods 


99 


and  in  the  discovery  of  new  facts;   (e)  develop  the 
idea  of  class,  order,  genus,  species,  with  their  characters. 

5.  POINT:  Things  differ  because  of  difference  (a)  in 
heredity,  or  difference  in  seeds;    (b),  because  of  differ- 
ences in  their  surroundings;    (c)  these  differences  are 
usually  adaptations  to  conditions;    (d)  in  case  of  dead 
things,  of  course,  other  reasons  apply. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Have  pupils  arrange  their 
results  in  the  form  of  a  comparative  table  like  those 
shown  in  Chapter  IV,  Section  XII ;    (b)  from  the  table 
let  the  pupil  write  definitions  of  the  forms  compared, 
stating  the  class  characters,  etc.,  as  shown  by  the  table; 
(c)  teach  pupil  how  to  use  the  dictionary  in  identify- 
ing forms.     (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:    Ask  pupils  to 
discover   whether   similar   objects   are   associated   in 
groups  or  whether  scattered. 

8.  NOTE:   (a)  What  is  the  effect  when  a  living  thing 
is  not  adapted  to  the  conditions  amid  which  it  is  placed? 
(b)  Can  a  living  thing  in  nature  be  out  oj  harmony 
with  its  environment?     (c)  What  about  man? 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  IV  (Field  Lesson). 

Motto:    "Work  should  never  be  treated  as  if  it  were 
play,  nor  play  as  if  it  were  work" — Rosenkranz. 


'i.  food 

'  l-  PHnts.     f.    as    • 
2.  animals   ) 

2.  homes 
3.  neighbors 

3.  elevation 

4.  societies 
5  .  instincts 

Analysis  —  rela  twn 
of  object  to 

4.  temperature 
5.  movement  of  air 
6.  light 
7.  moisture 

i  .  economic  uses 
2.  aesthetic,  educational,  and 

o     __.;i 

moral  uses 

o.   SOll 

9.  man 

3.  characters  essential  to  its 

uses 

. 

4.  characters  essential  in  the 

struggle  for  existence 

5.  how  influenced  by  man 

6.  what  general  influence  on 

man,  etc. 

ioo          Education  through  Nature 

1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Determine  beforehand  where 
the  object  studied  can  be  found;    (b)  let  pupils  know 
before  taken  out  what  the  purpose  of  the  exercise  is. 

2.  TIME:  From  one  to  several  periods  or  whole  days. 

3.  METHOD:      (a)     Discovery;      (b)     investigation; 
(c)   confirmation,      (i),    (2),    (9)    Chapter    II,    Sec- 
tion IX. 

4.  AIM:    (a)  To  discover  new  facts;    (&)   to  find 
answers  to  some  problems  that  have  arisen  in  pre- 
ceding   steps;     (c)    to    confirm    conclusions    already 
reached;    (d)  to  cultivate  interest  and  appreciation; 
(e)  to  train  in  close  observation;   (/)  form  some  habits 
of.  the  naturalist;    (g)  to  develop  a  consciousness  of 
relationship  and  harmony  in  nature;    (h)  enjoyment; 
(i)    make    collections    of    specimens.     (See    Part  II, 
Chapter  IV,  Section  XI.) 

5.  POINT:    (a)  Species  and  varieties  have  similar- 
ities   and    differences    correlated    with    difference    in 
habits,  and  with  differences  in  their  relation  to  en- 
vironment;   (b)  living  things  often  form  societies  or 
colonies,  the  conditions  of  which  are  interesting  sub- 
jects for  study. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Dictate  a  few  leading  ques- 
tions to  which  answers  are  to  be  found;   (b)  let  pupils 
understand  that  they  will  be  called  on  next  day  for 
their  answers;    (c)  accompany  pupils  to  the  locality 
selected.     (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:  Encourage  pupils 
to  bring  such  things  from  home  as  may  be  of  use  in 
their   experiments. 

8.  NOTE  :   (a)  What  connection  is  there  between  plant 
and   animal   societies   and   human   society?     (b)    En- 
courage pupils  to  preserve  specimens  bearing  on  the 
questions  discussed. 


General  Methods 


101 


PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  V  (Experimentation). 

Motto:   "  The  teacher  is  needed  jor  those  steps  which 
the  children  cannot  take  alone" — De  Garmo. 


Analysis — experiments  on 
efiebts  of 


1.  soil 

2.  light 

3.  heat 

4.  moisture 

5.  gravity 

6.  air 

7.  electricity 

8.  chemicals  ; 


functions  and  tropisms  of 
organs  and  organisms 


1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Use  material  brought  by  the 
pupil  if  fresh;   if  not,  supply  plenty  of  fresh  material 
to  work  with;    (b)  provide  such  simple  apparatus  as 
may  be  needed,  or  supply  material  from  which  ap- 
paratus can  be  constructed. 

2.  TIME:    From  one  to  several  periods. 

3.  METHOD:  Investigation.     (2.)  (See  Part  I,  Chap- 
ter II,  Section  IX.) 

4.  AIM:    (a)  To  develop  the  inquiring  mind;    (b)  to 
develop  the  habit  of  answering  one's  questions  and 
settling  one's   doubts  by  experimental   tests;     (c)  to 
develop  the  habit  of  inquiring  into  the  questions  of 
use  and  functions  of  the  forms  seen;    (d)  to  train  in 
the  use  of  the  hypothesis;    (e)  to  develop  a  judicial 
mind;    (/)  to  develop   skill  in  construction  and  ma- 
nipulation of  apparatus;    (g)  to  promote  a  scientific 
understanding  of  the  subject. 

5.  POINT:   (a)  Facts  are  correlated;   (b)  solutions  of 
special  problems  aid  in  understanding  more  general 
ones;   (c)  the  more  simple  and  primitive  the  apparatus 
the  better. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Distribute  pencil  and  paper 
for  notes;    (b)  place  on  the  board  or  dictate  a  few 
general  questions  that  are  suited  to  guide  observa- 
tion;   (c)  lead  pupils  to  talk  about  general  problems, 
such  as  how  do  living  things  differ  from  dead  ones; 
what  are  the  evidences  of  life;   how  is  it  maintained, 


IO2         Education  through  Nature 


modified,  and  brought  to  a  close;  what  relation 
does  form,  color,  size,  structure,  properties,  instincts, 
movements  bear  to  the  maintenance  of  life?  (d)  how 
do  the  various  organs  contribute  to  the  maintenance 
of  life?  how  are  these  organs  affected  by  physical 
influences  ?  and  how  does  each  organism  minister  to 
the  life  of  the  social  community  ?  etc. ;  (e)  lead  pupils 
to  suggest  experiments  to  test  the  questions  asked, 
assist  when  necessary  in  performing  the  experiment. 
(See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:   Refer  pupils  to 
literature,  etc. 

8.  NOTE:    The  value  of  an  experiment  in  this  work 
lies  as  much  (or  more)  in  the  habits  formed  as  in  the 
results  obtained. 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  VI  (Recitation). 

Motto:    "The  mind  must  ever  rise  from  clear  in- 
dividual to  distinct  general  notions" — Pestalozzi. 


c 


'i.  history 

fi.  origin 
2.  development 

i.  Morphology- 

2.  form 

).       f  i  .  whole 

3.  structure 

Hi 

4.  origin 

)       1  2.  parts  or  organs 

fi.  nutrition 

1 

2.  circulation 

1 

c* 

How  related  to 
work  of 

:,.          . 

3.  respiration 
4.  secretion 
5.  excretion 
6.  motion 

t     organs 
^of-<       and 
'    systems 

- 

2.  Physiology  . 

tyj 

fi.  food 

. 

K 

2.  light 

. 

.1 

W2.  uses  of   • 

mm     iigjiiw 

3.  heat 
4.  soil 

i  organisms 

•to-J       and 
§ 

N 

5.  water 

i    organs 

6.  chemicals    ) 

How  related  to  f  i.  struggle  for  existence  j 
3.  Ecological     •!                                             ?-o 
factors         (.2.  adaptations                  ) 

{organs  and 
organisms 

General  Methods  103 

1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Fix  in  the  mind  the  cardinal 
points  around  which  all  other  facts    cluster;    (6)  ex- 
amine pupiPs  notes,  noting  excellences  and  defects. 

2.  TIME:     One    period.      (See    Primary    Method, 
Part  I,  Chapter  IV,  Section  XII.) 

3.  METHOD:    (a)  Catechetical;    (b)  developmental. 
(7)  See  Part  I,  Chapter  II,  Section  IX. 

4.  AIM:    (a)  To  test  knowledge  and  skill;    (b)  to 
promote  generalization;    (c)  awaken  interest;    (d)  call 
attention  to  new  facts  and  their  relationship;    (e)  cor- 
rect errors  of  all  kinds;    (/)  show  the  larger  bearings 
of  the  subject. 

5.  POINT:    (a)   Everything  is  related  to  all  other 
things;    (b)  adaptations  to  work,  and  to  other  things 
exist  which  have  a  natural  explanation.     (See  Part  II, 
Chapter  II.) 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Call  for  statement  of  facts; 

(b)  when  a  word  is  needed  supply  it;   (c)  begin  with  a 
central  fact  and   call  for  statements  of  other  facts 
related  to  it;    (d)  criticise  the  pupiPs  results  as  shown 
by  his  written  notes.     (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:   (a)  Refer  pupils 
in  higher  grades  to  scientific  literature,  on  some  phase 
of  the  subject;    (b)  refer  pupils  in  lower  grades  to 
nature  poetry,  and  stories  about  the  subject  studied; 

(c)  teach  older  pupils  how  to  use  the  dictionary. 

8.  NOTE. — For  one  period  it  is  best  to  take  some 
phase,  as  morphology,  then  in  the  next  period,  physi- 
ology, and  in  the  next  ecology,  etc. 


PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  VII  (Supplementary  Information). 

Motto:  "The  main  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  ap- 
plication of  the  science  of  teaching  is  the  ignorance  on 
the  part  of  teachers,  of  the  subjects  they  pretend  to 
teach." — Parker. 


104         Education  through  Nature 

'  i .  facts  reviewed  in  natural  order 

2.  meaning  of  observed  facts 

3.  new  facts  and  new  relations  of  facts 
Analysis  -I  4.  some  truths  emphasized 

5.  subject  vitalized  by  the  teacher 

6.  The  whole  summarized 

7.  Reference  to  literature  and  biography 

1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Read  and  confirm  what  the 
best  authors  have  to  say  on  the  subject;    (6)  arrange 
what  you  wish  to  say  with  the  needs  of  your  pupils  in 
view;    (c)  develop  in  yourself  some  enthusiasm  for  the 
work. 

2.  TIME:   One  period. 

3.  METHOD:    Lecture    (telling).     (8)    See   Part   I, 
Chapter  II,  Section  IX. 

4.  AIM:    (a)  To  review  important  facts;    (&)  to  ar- 
range facts;    (c)  to  create  enthusiasm;    (d)  to  prepare 
the  pupil  by  actual  example  for  the  logical  arrange- 
ment and  the  clear  expression  of  what  he  knowSi  about 
the  subject;     (e)   to  impart  such  knowledge  as  has 
escaped  the  pupil  or  may  be  too  difficult  to  discover; 
(/)  to  remind  the  pupil  how  much  more  there  is  to 
accomplish. 

5.  POINT:    (a)  The  dryest  facts  may  be  so  com- 
bined and  arranged  as  to  make  a  clear  picture,  about 
which  an  enthusiastic  teacher  can  relate  the  important 
incidents  of  an  interesting  story.     (See  Part  II,  Chap- 
ter I.) 

6.  PRESENTATION:      (a)    Have    something   to-   say 
before  you  say  it;    (6)  use  good  language,  but  avoid 
technical  or  unfamiliar  terms;    (c)  illustrate  on  the 
board,  with  colored  crayon,  as  you  speak,  thus  holding 
the  attention  by  appealing  to  both  eye  and  ear;  (d)  use 
the  animated  conversational  style,  and  let  yoiy:  en- 
thusiasm express  itself  in  your  features,  and  in  the 
modulations  of  the  voice;    (e)  do  not  talk  around  the 
point,  to  the  point;    (/)  stop  talking  when,  you  have 
nothing   to   say   worth   mentioning;     (g)    a   question 


General  Methods  105 

now  and  then  when  the  interest  flags  will  restore  at- 
tention.    (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:    (a)  Refer  pupils 
to  library  sources  of  information,  pointing  out  pas- 
sages of  special  importance  and  interest;    (b)  point 
out  any  literary  selections  that  may  be  of  interest  in 
the  light  of  what  has  been  found  out. 

8.  NOTE. — (a)  In  the  lower  grades  the  teacher  may 
read  simple^  interesting  selections  to  the  class,  and  have 
them  reproduce  in  writing  the  substance  of  the  selection. 
This  will  add  needed  variety  to  the  exercise. 

(b)  It  may  often  be  desirable  to  give  library  references 
earlier  in  the  work,  as  at  the  close  of  Step  II. 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  VIII  (Representation). 

Motto:  "Now  there  is  nothing  in  the  understanding 
which  was  not  before  in  the  sense.  And,  therefore,  to 
exercise  the  senses  well  about  the  right  perceiving  the 
difference  of  things  will  be  to  lay  the  grounds  for  all 
wisdom  and  all  wise  discourse  and  all  discreet  actions 
in  one's  course  of  life." — Comenius. 

color  or  shade 


i 


{I.  CO 
2..  foi 
3.  siz 


i.  As  a  whole   \   2..  form  or  outline 


0.  size  (proportion) 

1 .  color  or  shade 

,   2.  form  or  outline 
.2.  As  parts       -j   3.  size  (proportion) 

4.  structure 

5.  appendages 


1.  PREPARATION:    (a)   Supply  fresh  material;    (b) 
provide  paper  and  pencil  or  water  colors,  etc. 

2.  TIME:    One  to  two  periods. 

3.  METHOD:     Drawing.     (See    Chapter    IV,    Sec- 
tion XIII.) 

4.  AIMS:     (a)    To    cultivate   accurate    observation; 
(6)  to  train  the  eye  and  the  hand;  (c)  to  represent  what 
cannot  otherwise  be  well  expressed;  (d)  to  cultivate  the 


106         Education  through  Nature 

habit    of   distinguishing    between    the    real    and    the 
imaginary;   (e)  to  hold  attention  in  training  judgment. 

5.  POINT:   (a)  Objects  are  vaguely  generalized  when 
at  a  distance;   details  become  evident  as  we  approach 
the  object. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Let  the  pupil  know  what  he 
is  to  draw;   (b)  show  the  pupil  the  effect  of  holding  an 
object  at  a  distance;   (c)  after  having  drawn  the  whole 
object  as  seen  from  a  distance,  have  each  part  drawn 
with  important  details  as  they  appear  when  closely 
examined.     (See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:    (a)  Ask  pupils 
to  bring  each  a  fresh  specimen. 

8.  NOTE. — (a)  This  work  can  be  done  as  seat  work  or 
occupation  after  the  directions  are  given;   (b)  the  pencil 
often  needs  close  attention. 

PROGRAM   FOR   STEP   IX    (Written  Expression). 

Motto:  "The  exceptional  fact  of  the  period  is  the 
genius  of  Wordsworth.  He  had  no  master  but  nature 
and  solitude." — Emerson. 

(  i.  spelling 

|        f  i.  prose    •<  2.  penmanship  f  i.  sentence      *|  i.  punctuation 
.2  g?  (3.  composition  -j 


•a 

£ 


i .  nature  poetry 
.  2.  poetry  •{  2.  understanding 
3.  appreciation 


and 
.  paragraph   J  2.  capitalization 


1.  PREPARATION:    (a)   Pupil's  notes  should  be  cor- 
rected;     (6)  supply  pen  and  ink,  paper  and  pencil. 
(See  Primary  Method,  Part  I,  Chapter  IV,  Section  XII.) 

2.  TIME:   One  to  two  periods  or,  as  busy  work,  as 
much  time  as  is  faithfully  spent. 

3.  METHOD:   Writing.     (See  Part  I,  Chapter  V.) 

4.  AIMS:    (a)  To  summarize  and  fix  facts;    (6)  to 
develop  systematic  habits;    (c)  to  cultivate  habits  of 
accuracy  and  neatness;    (d)  to  serve  as  a  test  of  the 


General  Methods  107 

pupil's  success  in  his  work;  (e)  to  correlate  with  other 
subjects,  such  as  spelling,  penmanship,  composition, 
and  literature]  (/)  to  develop  that  clearness  and  ac- 
curacy of  thinking  which  comes  from  clear  and  ac- 
curate expression  of  thought;  (g)  to  serve  as  a  natural 
foundation  for  the  cultivation  of  the  art  of  reading, 
and  the  use  and  interpretation  of  language. 

5.  POINT:    (a)  Neatness  in  writing  and  accuracy  in 
thinking  are  essential  to  a  clear  legible  composition; 
(b)   each  sentence  should  express  only  one  leading 
thought. 

6.  PRESENTATION:    (a)  Provide  fresh  specimens  for 
re-examination  when  in  doubt;    (b)  let  pupils  refer  to 
their  notes;    (c)  place  upon  the  board  or  dictate  as 
many  general  questions  (or  a  suggestive  outline)  as 
will  cover  the  work  done,  and  have  pupils  answer  by 
description  or  otherwise  each  question  in  a  separate 
paragraph;  (see  Part  I,  Chapter  V,  Section  XIV  and 
XV);    (d)  ask  pupil  to  copy,  at  the  end  of  his  com- 
position, that  stanza,  or  two,  from  a  selected  poem 
or  other  subject,  giving  him  expressly  the  liberty  to 
choose  that  stanza  which  most  appeals  to  him;   (e) 
preserve  the    best   of    these   compositions  after   they 
have    been    read     as    a    mark    of    distinction;     (/) 
number  your  leading  questions,  and  have  the  corre- 
sponding paragraph  provided  with  a  similar  number 
(see  Part  I,  Chapter  V,  Section  14,  15);    point  out 
to  the  pupil  how  the  natural  parts  of  an  object  might 
each   be   described   in   a   paragraph.     (See    Chapter 
IV,  Section  13.) 

7.  PREPARATION  FOR  NEXT  STEP:  Assign  literature 
bearing  on  the   subject  to  be   read. 

8.  NOTE. — (a)  This  work  can  be  done  as  seat  work 
or  occupation  when  the  teacher  is  crowded  with  other 
work.     But  it  is  not  to  be  slighted  as  it  is  a  very  im- 
portant step]    (b)  the  descriptive  part  should  be  strictly 
scientific. 


io8         Education  through  Nature 

PROGRAM  FOR  STEP  X  (Reading). 

Motto:  "A  man  cannot  have  the  power  of  language 
without  things  to  apply  it  to;  but  his  fulness  of  ex- 
pression may  be  out  of  proportion  to  his  knowledge  of 
the  things  expressed." — Bain. 


'  i.  form 

2.  language 

i.  criticism 

3.  facts 

•  i.  composition  • 

4.  terms 

5.  spelling 

6.  penmanship 

2.  grading 

7.  expression 

2.  supplementary  sources      )        tOD;c 
3.  nature  poetry  and  stories  f 

Analysis — reading 


1.  PREPARATION:    (a)  Provide  supplementary  read- 
ing— poetry,  prose — bearing  on  the  subject,  to  relieve 
the  monotony  of  the  reading  exercise. 

2.  TIME:    One  to  several  periods. 

3.  METHOD:    Reading. 

4.  AIMS  :   (a)  To  allow  pupils  to  compare  their  own 
work  with  that  of  others;   (b)  to  relieve  the  teacher  of 
of  the  task  of  so  much  reading;  (c)  drill  in  pronouncia- 
tion  of  scientific  terms;    (d)  to  correlate  with  reading; 
(e)  to  provide  for  a  beneficial  emulation  in  the  class; 
(/)  to  giye  the  teacher  an  opportunity  to  estimate  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  the  work  done,  and  to  give 
due  credit  for  merit  arising  from  carefulness,  diligence, 
neatness,  etc. 

5.  POINT:  In  reading  their  own  composition,  pupils 
should  be  able  to  read  with  an  intelligent  expression. 

6.  PRESENTATION:   (a)  Ask  pupil  to  read  his  paper; 
(b)  note  arrangement  of  subject-matter,  use  of  terms, 
expression,  etc.;    (c)  ask  other  members  of  the  class 
to  criticise  the  facts;    (d)  give  criticisms  and  sugges- 
tions;   (e)  to  break  the  monotony  of  the  exercise,  let 
a  member  read  the  library  selection  quoted,  or  any 


General  Methods  109 

other  supplementary  reading  bearing  on  the  subject. 
(See  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII.) 

7.  NOTE. — (a)  Grade  the  work  by  these  papers,  and 
from  your  impressions  of  the  pupil's  diligence  and 
general  success;  (b)  this  step  may  be  omitted  wholly 
or  in  part  whenever  the  exercise  becomes  too  monotonous; 
(c)  parents  of  children  will  often  be  pleased  to  see  these 
papers  on  visiting  the  school. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study. 

XII.  Suggestions  to  the  Teacher. 

On  the  Teacher's  Preparation.  The  teacher's  prep- 
aration for  this  work  may  be  extensive  or  very  limited. 
Too  much  can  hardly  be  known  about  nature;  but 
one  need  not  be  discouraged  about  knowing  so  little, 
since  no  one  can  exhaust  the  subject.  One's  attitude 
towards  the  subject  is  often  of  more  consequence  than 
the  extent  of  knowledge.  If  the  teacher  is  as  interested 
in  a  new  page  of  nature's  book  as  some  are  in  the 
latest  novel  from  the  press,  she  will  learn  while  she 
labors  on,  inspiring  her  pupils  with  the  warmth  of  her 
enthusiasm.  Nature  study  is  not  entirely  for  the 
sake  of  nature  studyr  but  for  the  sake  of  the  pupil. 
The  method  and  some  of  the  spirit  of  the  investigator 
will  soon  overcome  many  of  the  difficulties  that  are 
sure  to  be  met  in  beginning  this  work. 

On  Using  the  Guide.  In  using  the  guide,  observe 
the  following  points:  (i)  Make  yourself  familiar  with 
its  plan  before  attempting  to  apply  the  method.  (2) 
Study  the  aims  to  be  attained'.  (3)  Endeavor  to  com- 
prehend from  a  psychological  and  scientific  point  of 
view,  (a)  the  different  steps  outlined,  (6)  the  order  in 
which  these  steps  should  be  taken.  Careful  study  of 
the  foundations  may  help  you  in  this.  (4)  Some 
points  there  made  are  fundamental;  yet  they  are  in- 
tended as  suggestions.  Do  what  you  can  by  your  owii 

IIP 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     in 

reading  and  reflection  to  assimilate  and  integrate  them 
into  a  consistent  theory  of  education. 

The  distinctive  features  of  this  method  of  teaching 
nature  study  are :  (a)  it  does  not  recognize  the  teaching 
of  nature  study  as  wholly  synonomous  with  the  teach- 
ing of  pure  science,  but  primarily  as  a  means  to  natural 
mental  growth;  (6)  it,  therefore,  places  the  individual 
to  be  taught  uppermost  in  the  teacher's  mind,  giving 
the  subject-matter  a  subordinate  though  important 
place;  (c)  it  recognizes,  on  the  one  hand,  the  laws  of 
mental  growth;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  places  the 
subject-matter  on  a  scientific  rather  than  a  pseudo- 
scientific  basis. 

Some  advantages  of  this  method  are :  (a)  it  gives  that 
variety  which  is  so  essential  in  maintaining  interest; 
(b)  it  is  systematic;  (c)  it  relieves  the  teacher  of  much 
useless  waste  of  time  in  planning  the  general  steps 
to  be  taken;  and  enables  him  or  her  the  better  to 
arrange  the  minuter  details  of  the  work;  (d)  it  gives 
the  teacher  every  opportunity  for  originality;  (e)  while 
it  is  a  method  it  is  not  one  that  is  liable  to  result  in 
machine  teaching;  (/)  being  natural,  it  becomes  a 
pleasure  to  observe  it  when  properly  understood. 

On  the  Order  of  Presentation.  There  is  a  natural, 
as  well  as  an  unnatural,  order  of  presenting  the  various 
aspects  of  a  subject.  The  best  order  is,  of  course,  the 
natural  one.  For  instance,  it  would  be  unnatural  to 
take  step  seven  before  taking  step  one,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  the  law  of  development,  both  in  the  in- 
dividual and  in  the  race.  The  nature  of  the  pupil 
and  the  aims  we  have  in  view  determine  what  the 
natural  order  is.  The  character  of  the  particular 
subject  studied  may  determine  the  order  to  be  pur- 
sued during  a  given  period;  but  even  in  these  minuter 
divisions  a  natural  order  can  be  detected.  Within  a 
single  lesson  we  have  (i)  preparation — arousing  the 
pupil's  interest  and  recalling  to  his  mind  related 


H2  Education  through  Nature 

topics  with  which  he  is  familiar;  (2)  the  presentation 
of  the  matter  so  as  to  guide  the  pupil's  mind  by  sensa- 
tion to  sense-perception  or  to  percepts;  from  percepts 
or  individual  notions  to  recepts  or  unconscious  generali- 
zation; from  recepts,  or  unconscious  generalization  to 
concepts  or  general  notions — conscious  generaliza- 
tion; (3)  and  finally  leading  the  mind  from  generali- 
zations to  their  further  application,  i.e.,  their  use  in 
interpreting  new  percepts. 

The  steps  outlined  in  the  guide  may  be  taken  in  all 
the  grades  except,  perhaps,  the  lowest.  Occasionally 
some  of  the  steps,  as  the  tenth,  may  be  omitted  in  the 
upper  grades.  Each  step  may  require  several  recita- 
tion periods.  Each  lesson  should  be  planned  before 
beginning  it.  A  mere  haphazard  arrangement,  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment,  cannot  yield  satisfactory 
results. 

In  planning  the  work,  the  teacher  should  keep  in 
mind  not  only  the  matter  to  be  presented,  but,  also, 
the  special  training  which  each  aspect  of  the  subject  is 
especially  suited  to  give;  also  the  general  aim,  as  well 
as  the  special  aim,  to  be  attained. 

The  following  rules  may  be  useful:  Proceed  (i)  from 
the  simple  to  the  complex;  (2)  from  the  more  appar- 
ent to  the  less  apparent,  or  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known; (3)  from  the  extensive  to  the  intensive;  (4)  from 
the  concrete  to  the  abstract;  (5)  from  the  particular  to 
the  general;  (6)  from  form  to  structure;  (7)  from 
structure  to  function;  (8)  from  facts  to  the  relation  of 
facts;  (9)  from  individuals  to  the  community  of  organ- 
isms. Give  the  pupil  a  general  survey  of  the  whole, 
if  possible,  before  introducing  the  study  of  parts. 

There  must  be  a  correspondence,  also,  to  the  order 
of  development  of  the  child's  powers;  and  to  the  order 
in  which  these  are  employed  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge, both  by  the  individual  and  by  the  race.  Thus 
we  first  observe,  second  infer,  third  compare,  fourth 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     113 

assimilate,  fifth  generalize,  sixth  appreciate,  seventh 
express  our  knowledge  and  appreciation  and,  eight, 
apply  our  knowledge  in  the  regulation  of  our  lives  and 
in  the  pursuit  of  new  truths.  These  processes  in- 
volve (i)  the  reception  of  external  impressions  through 
the  senses,  (2)  the  elaboration  of  those  impressions 
into  knowledge,  (3)  the  training  of  the  body  to  the 
efficient  execution  of  the  decrees  of  our  better  judgment. 

The  pupil's  interest  in  this  work  has  much  to  do 
with  its  success.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  lower 
grades.  The  choice  of  suitable  subjects  is  an  im- 
portant matter  in  the  lower  grades.  Familiar  living 
things  seem  often  to  be  most  interesting.  Variety,  too, 
is  demanded  by  children.  As  the  pupil  advances  in 
the  grades,  mere  curiosity,  the  chief  stimulus  in  young 
pupils,  should  gradually  yield  to  love  of  knowledge  for 
its  own  sake.  A  more  intensive  study  of  things  in 
the  upper  grades  is  thus  made  possible  and  less  variety 
is  required. 

Planning  the  work,  so  as  to  economize  time,  is  the 
teacher's  chief  work.  Such  planning  need  not  reduce 
the  work  to  routine.  It  can  be  so  done  as  to  escape  the 
attention  of  the  pupil;  he  feeling  the  wholesome 
stimulus  of  spontaneity  and  freedom,  while  uncon- 
sciously pursuing  the  course  outlined.  Unsystematic 
work  with  no  aim  or  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  teacher, 
is  not  worthy  to  be  called  school  work;  since  it  par- 
takes of  that  chance  value  which  belongs  to  the  un- 
directed activities  of  the  playground.  The  higher  the 
grade  the  more  systematic  the  work  should  be  made. 
Nature  study  becomes  scientific  in  proportion  as  it 
is  made  systematic.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  system- 
atic work  gradually  secured  through  the  pupil's  spon- 
taneous activity  is  a  result  greatly  to  be  desired.  Law- 
lessness may  be  a  necessity  with  the  very  young  pupil, 
but  it  is  inconsistent  with  anything  that  can  be  called 
a  study  of  the  laws  of  nature. 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


ii4  Education  through  Nature 

The  course  of  study  should  be  followed  when  a 
practicable  one  has  been  provided.  But  it  must  be 
surbordinate  to  the  interests  of  the  pupils.  Even  a 
desert  affords  considerable  material  for  nature  study. 
It  is  very  true  that  "all  is  in  all." 

Where  no  course  of  study  is  provided  for  the  school, 
one  can  easily  be  made  by  taking  the  one  presented 
here  as  a  model,  merely  inserting  the  appropriate 
object,  at  the  time  when  convenient  in  that  particular 
locality,  and  indicating  the  amount  of  work  given  to 
it  in  each  grade. 

How  much  work  to  be  given  to  a  subject  in  a  par- 
ticular grade,  i.e.,  the  thoroughness  to  be  demanded, 
must  depend  on  the  pupil's  ability.  The  method 
presented  here  requires  no  limit  to  be  fixed  by  the 
teacher,  as  the  pupil's  powers  are  allowed  freedom  of 
action,  and  consequently  determine  the  degree  of 
thoroughness  that  can  be  attained.  With  the  work  well 
planned  and  the  interest  sustained  such  a  method  must 
bring  the  work  up  to  the  highest  capacity  of  the  pupil. 

No  written  examination  or  uniform  test  for  pro- 
motion is  contemplated  according  to  this  method. 
The  pupiPs  written  work,  in  step  nine,  is  a  fairly  good 
test  of  his  ability  and  success,  and,  together  with  his 
diligence  and  success  in  manipulation,  may  afford  a 
basis  for  grading. 

First  Primary  Method.  When  the  pupil  first  enters 
school  the  teacher's  problem  usually  is  (i)  to  keep 
him  busy,  (2)  to  teach  him  to  read  and  to  express 
himself  in  as  many  ways  as  possible.  At  this  stage  in 
his  school  work,  he  cannot,  of  course,  pursue  nature 
study  as  systematically  as  this  method  prescribes. 
The  principles  underlying  the  method,  however,  are 
the  same  here  as  in  the  more  advanced  grades; 
namely,  getting  ideas  through  sensation  and  actual 
experience,  and  then  connecting  these  ideas  with 
symbols  that  may  be  expressed  by  (i)  orally,  (2) 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     115 


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n6  Education  through  Nature 

drawing,  (3)  making,  (4)  writing.  Writing  must  be 
learned  chiefly  by  imitation.  Hence  the  teacher  is 
more  necessary  here  than  in  the  upper  grades. 

The  work  here  must  be  combined  with  reading 
and  writing,  and  used  as  a  basis  for  teaching  these 
arts.  Indeed  we  may  say  that  nature  study  in  this 
primary  class  is 'to  be  used  chiefly  with  a  view  to 
teaching  reading,  writing,  and  numbers.  This  use  of 
nature  study  was  formerly  called  object-lessons. 

The  method  here  is  as  follows:  (i)  Lead  each  child 
to  make  a  statement  about  the  object.  If  possible 
try  to  have  him  use  both  a  subject  and  a  predicate, 
as  "The  rose  is  red  " — not  a  phrase,  as  a  red  rose,  or 
merely  a  word  rose — hence  a  complete  sentence.  It 
is  well  not  to  be  too  particular  about  this  at  the  begin- 
ning, for  it  is  natural  for  children,  like  many  savage 
tribes,  to  talk  in  phrases  instead  of  complete  sentences; 
as,  when  the  child  says  "water,"  meaning:  I  want 
water;  or  give  me  water.  (2)  Write  the  statement  on 
the  board  (neatly  of  course);  (3)  then  let  the  pupil 
read  the  sentence  from  the  board;  (4)  when  a  number 
of  sentences  have  thus  been  placed  on  the  board, 
let  the  class  copy  the  sentences  with  a  pencil  on  paper; 
(5)  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  lesson  have  the  pupils 
read  what  they  have  copied  and  then  proceed  as  before. 
Number  work  should  be  introduced  here  (i)  by  count- 
ing objects,  and  the  teacher  placing  the  corresponding 
figure  on  the  board  as,  I  have  three  (3)  flowers;  (2) 
counting  the  parts  of  objects  as  the  petals  of  flowers 
or  the  lobes  of  leaves.  Then,  too,  number  the  sen- 
tences on  the  board  and  let  the  pupil  copy  as  before. 

This  copying  what  has  been  placed  on  the  board 
in  this  way  may  be  done  as  busy  seat- work  or  occupa- 
tion, without  the  attention  of  the  teacher. 

The  lesson  itself,  therefore,  need  occupy  only  from 
ten  to  fifteen  minutes,  but  should  be  repeated  at  least 
four  times  a  day. 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     117 


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1 1 8         Education  through  Nature 

XIII.  Suggestions  on  the  Steps. 

i.  SEEING. 

The  First  Step,  being  taken  by  the  pupil  unaided, 
requires  an  abundance  of  fresh  material.  A  large 
supply  of  material  is  always  better  than  a  limited  one. 
To  see  a  young  teacher  trying  to  make  a  single  flower 
serve  for  a  large  class,  when  the  lawn  just  outside  is 
covered  with  them,  does  not  tend  to  develop  a  favor- 
able opinion  of  that  teacher. 

The  gathering  of  the  required  material  should  be 
made  part  of  the  work  in  nature  study.  But  it  should 
not  be  made  compulsory,  as  it  may  often  be  impossible 
for  the  pupil  to  find  the  desired  specimen.  As  a  rule 
pupils  are  eager  to  bring  specimens.  It  has  an  educa- 
tional value.  It  cultivates  the  habit  of  observation 
and  attention  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life,  and  will 
lead  to  increased  appreciation  of  interesting  natural 
objects. 

The  teacher  should  not  rely  exclusively  on  the  material 
brought  by  the  pupils.  They  often  fail  to  respond 
when  material  is  most  needed.  The  teacher  herself 
will  derive  much  benefit  from  collecting  material. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  of  course  to  set  the  pupil 
at  work.  Let  him  know  what  is  expected  of  him. 
So  long  as  the  pupil  remains  busy,  he  may  be  left  to 
his  own  resources.  Attention  is  evidence  of  interest, 
and  time  spent  in  this  uninterrupted  self-activity  is 
well  spent.  He  is  probably  not  only  seeing,  but  may 
also  be  thinking.  The  secret  of  success  in  all  teaching 
seems  to  be  the  gaining  of  this  self-activity,  which 
reveals  itself  in  attention  to  the  subject  in  hand.  It 
is  said  that  the  distinguished  Louis  Agassiz,  than 
whom  none  have  obtained  better  results,  placed  a 
specimen  before  his  pupil,  told  him  to  go  to  work  on 
it;  and  then  disappeared  for  weeks,  returning  only  to 
inquire  of  the  student  how  he  was  getting  along.  His 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     119 

were  mature  students,  however;  yet  the  principle  of 
self-activity  as  the  source  of  power  is  doubtless  as  true 
of  the  child  as  of  the  mature  man. 

Observing  an  object  means  that  the  pupil  be  allowed 
to  use  all  his  senses  (sight,  hearing,  touch,  taste, 
smell,  etc.),  on  it.  Plenty  of  time  should  be  allowed, 
for  the  pupil  is  getting  sense-impressions,  the  primary 
elements  of  knowledge. 

Too  much  should  not  be  expected  in  this  first  lesson; 
for  what  the  pupil  is  able  to  discover  is  largely  a 
matter  of  chance,  since  he  lacks,  it  may  be,  that  con- 
trolling idea  which  guides  research  and  makes  work 
systematic.  Nevertheless  this  first  step  is  very  im- 
portant, because  it  may  contribute  in  various  ways 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  work.  Thus  (a)  he  enjoys 
freedom,  the  free  exercise  of  his  power;  (6)  he  enjoys 
that  success  which  need  not  be  wanting  when  his 
powers  are  freely  exercised;  (c)  he  is  stimulated  by 
discovery.  Nature  study  owes  much  of  its  fascina- 
tion to  the  great  variety  of  facts  that  can  be  found  by 
careful  observation,  even  in  the  most  familiar  object 

2.  DISCUSSION. 

The  Second  Step  in  the  study  of  an  object  must  be. 
directed  largely  by  the  teacher.  The  pupil  has  now 
a  few  isolated  facts.  They  mean  little  or  nothing  to 
him.  He  may  feel  that  he  has  exhausted  the  subject. 
The  few  facts  he  has  discovered  probably  have  little  or 
no  relation  to  one  another  so  far  as  he  is  aware.  Yet 
every  fact  is  related  to  every  other  fact;  and  it  is  the 
consciousness  of  that  which  leads  to  systematic  ob- 
servation. Much  more  can  be  seen  when  once  this 
connecting  thread  has  been  discovered.  In  the  first 
step,  no  premeditated  plan  of  work  precedes  the  dis- 
coveries made.  All  is  chance.  When  such  a  plan  is 
first  consciously  or  unconsciously  made,  the  result  is 
investigation.  Such  planning  is  the  result  of  general:- 


I2O         Education  through  Nature 

zation,  by  which  questions  are  developed  to  be  solved 
by  careful  experimentation  and  clever  manipulation. 
Back  of  all  investigation  is  a  suggestion  which  acts  as  a 
stimulus  to  further  inquiry.  If  systematic  activity  is 
to  result  from  the  work  of  this  step,  it  must  be  stimulat- 
ing rather  than  satisfying.  A  desire  for  more  inform- 
ation must  be  aroused,  and,  when  aroused  it  should 
not  now  be  satisfied  by  the  teacher's  answers. 

Nature  is  truly  suggestive.  But  the  teacher  can 
assist  in  making  the  pupil's  mind  susceptible  to  its 
suggestions.  Questions  are  useful  for  this  purpose. 
(a)  A  really  suggestive  question  does  not  relate  ex- 
clusively to  particulars  that  can  be  seen  at  a  glance. 
(6)  They  must  be  general  questions  requiring  not  only 
observation  but  also  a  complex  process  of  inference 
and  reasoning,  (c)  They  should  be  connected,  at 
least  remotely,  with  what  the  pupil  already  knows. 
(d)  They  may  be  accompanied  occasionally  with 
suggestive  information,  tending  to  arouse  thought  and 
create  interest,  (e)  But  they  should  be  of  such  a 
nature  that  the  pupil  cannot  answer  them  offhand. 
(/)  It  is  perfectly  proper,  therefore,  with  this  purpose  in 
view,  to  ask  questions  that  are  as  yet  unanswerable. 

Thus,  to  take  a  concrete  example,  the  dandelion,  the 
following  questions  would  be  suggestive:  (i)  Is  the 
dandelion  alive?  (2)  If  dead,  what  is  the  cause? 
(3)  How  then  does  it  differ  from  the  living?  (4)  What 
is  life?  (5)  How  do  we  distinguish  between  a  dead 
and  a  living  thing?  (6)  Did  the  dandelion  spring 
from  dead  matter?  (7)  Where  did  it  come  from? 
(8)  What  finally  becomes  of  it?  (9)  How  does  it 
differ  from  an  animal?  (10)  Why  do  we  call  it  a 
plant?  (n)  Why  has  it  not  the  same  form  and  color 
as  the  apple  blossom?  (12)  Why  does  it  grow  in 
some  places  rather  than  in  others?  (13)  Why  does  it 
change  its  appearance?  (14)  Why  has  it  different 
colors  at  different  times?  (15)  Why  does  it  not  grow 


•Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study 

larger?  (16)  Why  does  it  disappear  in  winter? 
(17)  Why  and  whence  does  it  return  in  spring?  (18) 
Why  does  it  wither  when  plucked?  (19)  Why  do 
children  like  the  dandelion?  (20)  Why  do  bees  like 
it?  (21)  Does  the  dandelion  like  water?  (22)  Where 
do  the  little  bright  drops  of  water  come  from?  (23) 
How  is  the  milky  substance  inside  produced  and  of 
what  use  is  it?  (24)  Why  does  it  close  up  in  the 
evening?  (25)  Why  do  people  try  to  exterminate  it? 

Such  questions  should  lead  the  pupil  to  turn  the 
specimen  over,  so  to  speak,  and  view  it  in  a  new  light 
and  from  a  different  point  of  view.  No  answer  need 
be  given  to  these  questions.  The  pupil  may  be  made 
to  understand  that  it  is  often  prudent  to  say  we  do 
not  know,  but  that  it  is  equally  commendable  to  say 
I'll  try  to  find  out. 

In  the  meantime,  the  teacher  should  use  the  sources 
of  information  at  her  command,  and  should  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  the  generally  accepted  views  on  such 
questions.  Without  this  knowledge,  the  teacher  lacks 
perspective,  and  will  be  tied  down  to  mere  particulars 
that  in  themselves  are  often  worthless.  It  is  such 
great  fundamental  problems  which  stimulate  research, 
and  which  if  properly  understood  may  redeem  nature 
study  from  that  routine  of  mere  counting  isolated  and 
meaningless  details  which  doubtless  provokes  in  many 
well-disposed  individuals  the  feeling  that  it  is  all  a  fad. 

3.  COMPARISON. 

Step  Three  introduces  the  pupil  to  a  new  phase  of 
his  work,  that  of  comparing  one  object  with  another, 
one  fact  with  another  fact.  Isolated  facts  that  do 
not  enter  into  a  generalization  are  very  much  like 
undigested  food.  They  are  a  dead  weight  on  the 
memory  so  long  as  they  do  not  enter  into  vital  relation 
with  other  facts.  Mental  power  can  be  measured  by 


1:22  Education  through  Nature 

the  ability  to  assimilate  facts  and  to  build  out  of  them 
a  complex  structure,  a  general  idea. 

Facts  properly  assimilated  reveal  a  relationship  to 
one  another,  the  one  appearing  to  grow  out  of  the 
other  as  cause  and  effect,  or  as  links  in  a  long  chain 
of  development.  The  discovery  of  these  relations 
and  the  understanding  of  their  importance  is  mental 
assimilation,  because  facts  become  thus  interwoven 
in  our  mental  fabric,  and  hence  vital  elements  in  our 
mental  life.  We  are  not  merely  to  haul  stone,  lumber, 
and  mortar  for  a  building  leaving  it  piled  up  in  ugly, 
disorderly  heaps;  we  are  not  merely  to  gather  the 
unwashed  fleece  or  the  crude  fibers  of  the  cotton 
plant,  but  we  are  to  build  from  these  materials  a 
beautiful  structure,  and  a  fabric  both  delicate,  refined, 
and  enduring. 

The  means  by  which  the  facts  of  experience  are 
built  into  a  connected  system  is  comparison  and 
discussion.  The  discovery  of  similarities  and  dif- 
ferences develops  the  idea  of  interdependence  and 
relationship  and  the  tracing  of  these  relationships  is 
provocative  of  that  self-activity  commonly  called 
thought.  The  teacher  can  do  much  to  stimulate 
thought,  provided  she  is  able  to  rise  above  the  isolated 
fact  and  to  interpret  it  in  the  light  of  a  more  general 
idea. 

The  teacher  should  cultivate  in  herself  that  versatility 
which  makes  it  possible  to  view  facts  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  child  without  becoming  childish;  and, 
also,  from  a  philosophic  standpoint  without  becoming 
abstruse.  Nothing  can  help  her  so  much  in  this  as  a 
thorough  scientific  mastery  of  the  subject.  Such  a 
scientific  training  ought  to  give  her  a  knowledge 
of  the  underlying  laws  and  principles.  Knowing 
these  she  will  have  that  freedom  in  handling  facts 
which  conduces  so  much  to  clearness  and  interest. 

She  will  hardly,  then,  commit  the  mistake  of  making 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     123 

the  work  a  mere  quiz  on  the  facts  committed  by  the 
pupil,  but  will  so  arrange  the  material  as  to  enable 
the  pupil  to  discover  relationship  for  himself.  The 
writer  has  found  tables  like  the  following  very  con- 
venient in  this  step.  They  are  inserted  here  to  sug- 
gest the  form,  which  can  be  multiplied  and  varied 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  subject.  Pupils  should 
be  first  instructed  how  to  make  the  tables  by  the 
teacher  giving  the  dimensions  in  inches  and  fraction 
of  inches.  A  proper  notebook  for  each  pupil  in 
which  to  record  his  notes  and  keep  such  tables  is 
convenient. 

IV.  FIELD  LESSON. 

The  field  work  of  Step  Four  may  be  done  partly 
during  (a)  the  extended  Saturday  excursion  of  the 
class,  or  it  may  be  done  (&)  during  a  regular  school 
period.* 

The  excursion  must  be  regulated  by  the  teacher 
according  to  the  season  and  the  nature  of  the  weather. 
Perfect  freedom  should  be  given  the  class  in  these 
excursions,  since  recreation  and  enjoyment  is  one 
important  object  of  them.  Yet,  having  something 
definite  in  view  need  not  interfere  with  this  primary 
object.  A  problem  may  be  given  the  class,  and  the 
pupils  should  be  encouraged  in  making  collections. 
They  should  be  properly  instructed  as  to  what  equip- 
ment is  necessary  for  the  excursion.  (See  Part  II, 
Chapter  IV.) 

In  the  latter  or  outdoor  recitation  period  both  the 
teacher  and  the  pupil  should  have  something  definite 
in  view.  The  period  is  not  to  be  wasted  by  merely 
strolling  about  idly.  It  is  part  of  the  regular  work, 
and  should  not  be  omitted,  except  for  unavoidable 
reasons,  such  as  unfavorable  weather. 

Besides  this  regular  field-work,  in  which  the  teacher 
takes  part,  the  whole  school  may  be  made  to  take  inter- 


124          Education  through  Nature 


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132  Education  through  Nature 


est  in  independent  field-work  by  providing  Bird  Calen- 
dars and  Flower  Calendars  such  as  the  following,  for 
recording  observations  on  birds  and  flowers  during 
the  year.  The  form  of  the  calendar  may  be  varied, 
and  places  for  many  more  items,  such  as  food  and 
habits  of  birds,  inserted  in  the  calendar.  It  is  best 
made  in  the  form  of  a  chart  to  be  hung  on  the  wall 
and  variously  decorated. 

A  Tree  Album  may  be  made  in  a  similar  way  and 
used  for  recording  the  names  of  trees  and  other  ob- 
servations regarding  time  of  flowering,  shedding  of 
leaves,  locality,  condition  of  soil,  how  to  plant  them 
and  care  for  them,  etc. 

BIRD  CALENDAR. 

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Bird. 

When 
First  Seen. 

Where 
First  Seen. 

By  Whom 
First  Seen. 

Color. 

Size. 

Name. 

FLOWER  CALENDAR. 

Room School ,     Year 


Flower 

When 
First  Seen. 

Where 
First  Seen. 

By  Whom 
First  Seen. 

Color. 

Size. 

Name. 

Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     133 

TREE  ALBUM. 

Room ,     School ,     Year 


Tree. 

Where 
Growing* 

Time  of 
Blossoming. 

Time  of 
Shedding 
Leaves. 

Soil. 

SOME  PROBLEMS  FOR  OUTDOOR  STUDY. 

I.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Man:  (i)  Whether  useful 
and  for  what  purpose;  (2)  whether  cultivated  or  not, 
and  how  and  why;  (3)  how  and  in  what  state  or  con- 
ditions used  by  man;  (4)  how  far  and  why  man  is 
benefited  or  injured  by  it;  (5)  how  its  relation  to  man 
tends  to  its  preservation  or  destruction;  (6)  what 
characters  are  most  essential  to  its  usefulness,  or  detri- 
mental as  the  case  may  be;  (7)  how  those  characters 
are  preserved  by  man's  selection;  (8)  what  variations 
are  observable  between  different  forms  of  the  same 
object  and  what  the  probable  cause  may  be;  (9)  what 
means  it  has  for  self-preservation;  (10)  how  man's 
influence  affects  it. 

II.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Animals:  (i)  What 
relation  it  bears  to  animals  in  general  or  in  particular; 
(2)  what  those  animals  are;  (3)  how  they  mutually 
minister  to  each  others  needs;  (4)  how  they  tend  to 
destroy  each  other  if  that  be  true;  (5)  what  characters 
make  them  useful  to  some,  or  injurious  to  others; 
(6)  what  mutual  service  is  performed;  (7)  what 
adaptations  to  that  service  exists;  (8)  what  characters 
are  essential  to  the  continuance  of  this  relation;  (9) 


134  Education  through  Nature 

what  elements  of  plan,  purpose  or  beauty  can  be 
discovered  in  this  relation;  (10)  how  this  relation 
affects  man  if  such  be  the  case. 

III.  Relation   of   the   Object   to  Plants:     (i)  What 
relation  it  bears  to  plants  in  general  or  in  particular; 

(2)  what  characters  are  the  basis  of  this  relation; 

(3)  how  the  relation  can  be  mutually  advantageous; 

(4)  how  one  party  to  the  relation  may  get  most  benefit ; 

(5)  what  that  benefit  may  be;    (6)  how  the  relation 
can  be  dispensed  with;    (7)  how  the  destruction  of 
one  would  affect  the  other;    (8)   how  other  factors 
modify  this  relation;    (9)  what  evidence  of  plan  or 
purpose  exists;    (10)  what  elements  of  beauty  can  be 
discovered  and  what  ethical  principle  does  the  relation 
reveal. 

IV.  Relation  o)  the  Object  to  the  Soil:    (i)  With 
what  kind  of  soil  it  is  associated;  (2)  what  are  its  rela- 
tion to  other  soils;   QVwhat  quality  of  the  soil  is  most 
essential  to  this  relation;    (4)  how  it  behaves  when 
severed  from  this  relation;    (5)  by  what  causes  this 
might  be  brought  about;    (6)  what  adaptations  exist 
with   regard   to   that   particular   relation;     (7)   what 
influence   these   adaptations   might   have;     (8)    what 
effects    would    possibly    follow    if   these    adaptations 
did  not  exist;  (9)  how  these  adaptations  are  dependent 
upon  other  causes;    (10)  how  other  adaptations  would 
influence  this  relation. 

V.  Relation  of  the  Olject  to  Moisture:   (i)  How  this 
relation  affects  the  object;    (2)  what  characters  are 
chiefly  advantageous  in  this  relation;    (3)  how  it  tends 
to  perpetuate  itself;    (4)  under  what  circumstances, 
if  any,  the  relation  does  not  exist;    (5)  how  moisture 
affects  it;   (6)  what  amount  of  moisture  is  most  favor- 
able;   (7)  what  changes  occur  as  a  result  of  changes 
in  the  amount  of  moisture;    (8)  how  important  char- 
acters in  the  object  vary  with  the  amount  of  moisture; 
(9)  what  adaptations  serve  to  modify  the  influence 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study    135 

of  moisture;    (10)  how  the  amount  of  moisture  affects 
the  struggle  for  existence. 

VI.  Relation    of    the   Object    to   Light:     (i)    What 
effects  are  due  to  the  light;    (2)  what  the  results  are 
when  light  is  withdrawn;   (3)  whether  the  object  seeks 
the  light  or  avoids  it,  turns  towards  or  away  from  the 
light;  (4)  what  adaptations  exist  to  secure  the  light;  (5) 
what  adaptations  to  avoid  the  light;  (6)  how  the  partic- 
ular locality  may  increase  or  diminish  the  light;    (7) 
adaptations  to  secure  uniform  light  or  to  avoid  too 
strong  light;    (8)   how  parts  differ  according  to  the 
amount   of  light   received;     (9)    how   different   parts 
differ  as  their  relation  to  light  differ;    (10)  how  the 
relation  to  light  differs  at  different  periods. 

VII.  Relation  o)  the  Object  to  Heat:   (i)  How  varia- 
tions in  temperature  affect  it;    (2)  how  the  locality 
favors  uniform  temperature;    (3)  what  is  the  effect  of 
low  temperature;   (4)  what  provision  is  made  to  avoid 
too  low  or  too  high  temperature;    (5)  other  adapta- 
tions to  this  relation;   (6)  behavior  due  to  temperature; 
(7)   how  temperature  produces  the  effect;     (8)   how 
different  seasons  affect  it;    (9)  how  it  changes  with 
variation  in  temperature  as  in  summer  and  in  winter; 
(10)  how  other  objects  affect  its  temperature;  (n)  how 
locality  is  affected  by  winds  and  hence  by  difference 
in  temperature. 

VIII.  Relation  of  the  Object  to  Elevation:  (i)  Whether 
elevation  has  any  influence  directly;   (2)  changes  corre- 
sponding to  elevation;    (3)  effect  of  elevation  modified 
by  changes  in  temperature;    (4)  effects  of  elevation 
modified  by  changes  in  moisture;    (5)  effects  of  eleva- 
tion modified  by  changes  in  light;     (6)   adaptations 
to  secure  elevation;    (7)  adaptation  for  anchoring  or 
clinging  to  the  ground;    (8)   modifications  favorable 
to    high    or   low   ground;     (9)    secondary    influences 
affecting    elevation    as    soil,    moisture,    temperature; 
(10)  laws  showing  purpose  or  design. 


136  Education  through  Nature 

V.  EXPERIMENTS. 

The  Fifth  Step  may  often  be  omitted  when  the 
subject  under  consideration  does  not  especially  favor 
a  physiological  or  physical  treatment.  Yet  it  is  an 
important  step  and  should  not  be  neglected  when 
the  problems  of  the  subject  require  it. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  in  performing  an  experi- 
ment is  to  state  the  problem.  This  may  be  done 
by  the  teacher;  but  better  still,  the  pupil  may  be  led 
to  state  it  after  he  has  been  made  to  realize  that  a 
problem  actually  exists.  The  second  important  ele- 
ment to  consider  is  what  factors  must  be  present  and 
what  ones  excluded  from  the  experiment. 

The  simpler  the  experiment  and  the  less  elaborate 
the  apparatus  the  more  effective  usually  is  the  result. 

SOME  SIMPLE  EXPERIMENTS. 

I.  On  Solutions,     (a)  Compare  salt  or  sugar  with 
starch.    What    difference    in    appearance?     (&)    Fill 
two  tumblers  half  full  of  water;    put  into  one  a  tea- 
spoonful  of  salt  or  sugar;  stir.     The  salt  or  sugar  dis- 
appears.   What  has  happened?     (c)  Put  a  spoonful 
of  starch  into  the  second  tumbler.    It  does  not  dis- 
appear.    Why  not  ?    What  would  happen  if  the  starch 
could  be  changed  into  sugar? 

II.  On  the  Reaction  o)  Starch,     (a)  Put  some  flour 
into  a  small  quantity  of  boiling  water;   treat  the  paste 
with  a  few  drops  of  iodine  solution  (iodine  dissolved 
in  30%  alcohol);    it  turns  blue.     (6)  Treat  a  small 
piece  of  boiled  potato  in  the  same  way.     Any  evidence 
of  starch  ?     (c)  Put  a  green  leaf  into  boiling  water  and 
treat  it  with  iodine.     Any  evidence  of  starch  in  the 
leaf? 

III.  On  Diffusion,     (a)  Put  some  sugar  into  a  tum- 
bler, and  pour  into  it  enough  water  to  fill  the  tumbler. 
Allow  it  to  stand.     Does  the  sugar  disappear?     (b) 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     137 

Take  a  spoonful  of  water  from  the  surface  and  taste. 
Is  it  sweet  ?  The  sugar,  in  dissolving,  has  been  broken 
up  into  minute  particles  that  become  suspended 
between  the  molecules  of  water.  The  sugar  particles 
do  not  remain  at  the  bottom,  but  spread  throughout 
all  the  water  till  all  parts  are  equally  sweetened. 
Would  this  be  possible  if  the  sugar  did  not  dissolve  ? 

IV.  On  Evaporation,     (a)  Put  a  strip  of  filter  paper 
into  water;    leave  it  exposed  to  the  air.     It  dries. 
What  has  happened?     (6)  Hold  a  spoon  containing 
water  over  an  alcohol  flame.     The  water  boils  and 
disappears;    what  has  happened?     (c)  Hold  a  mois- 
tened strip  of  filter-paper  near  the  flame  and  another 
farther    from    the    flame.     The    former    dries    more 
quickly.     What  difference  in  the  condition  of  the  two 
strips  may  account  for  the  difference  in  effect  ?    Would 
the  sun  shining  on  one  of  the  strips  and  not  on  the 
other  have  a  similar  effect?     (d)  Dissolve  some  salt 
in  a  tumbler  one- fourth  full  of  water;  allow  the  water 
to   evaporate.     Has   the    salt   evaporated?     Examine 
the  crystals  remaining. 

V.  On  the  Effects  of  Heat,     (a)  Fill  a  tin  cup  with 
snow;    determine   the   temperature   of  the   snow  by 
means  of  a  thermometer.     Take  a  spoonful  of  this 
snow  and  hold  it  over  the  alcohol  lamp.     Why  does 
this  snow  melt  while  that  remaining  in  the- cup  does 
not?     (6)  Stir  a  considerable  quantity  of  salt  into  the 
snow  remaining  in  the  cup.     Does  the  temperature 
remain  the  same?     (c)   Place  the  tin  cup  over  the 
alcohol  flame  till  the  snow  melts.     What  is  the  tem- 
perature of  the  water  resulting  from  the  melting  snow  ? 
Continue  to  heat  the  water.     Does  the  temperature 
rise  at  once?     (d)  Determine  the  temperature  of  boil- 
ing water,     (e)  Why  do  bubbles  gather  at  the  bottom 
of  the    cup  and    finally   begin   to  ascend?      As  the 
bubbles  burst  at  the  surface  they  give  rise  to  steam. 
(/)  Fill   a  little  vial   with    water   and   cork   tightly. 


Education  through  Nature 


Expose  it  to  the  salt  and  snow  mixture.  The  water 
turns  to  ice.  Possibly  the  vial  is  cracked.  What  has 
happened?  (g)  Take  two  fresh  leaves;  suspend  one 
close  to  the  flame.  What  difference  can  soon  be  dis- 
covered between  the  two  leaves?  (h)  Take  two  fresh 
leaves.  Place  one  in  a  tumbler  of  water.  After  a 
while,  a  day  or  so,  what  difference  can  be  observed 
in  the  two  leaves?  What  has  happened  to  the  one 
exposed  to  the  air  ?  Account  for  it. 

VI.  On  Absorption,      (a)  Take  a  strip  of  blotting 
paper  and  a  piece  of  common  writing  paper;    put 
upon  each  a  drop  of  ink.     What  is  the  difference  in 
effect?    Allow  both  to  dry;    compare  the  size  of  the 
two  blots.     Account  for  the  difference.      (6)  Take  a 
tumbler  filled  within  half  an  inch  with  water;    put 
into  the  tumbler  a  small  dry  sponge  and   allow  to 
soak.     Remove  the  sponge.     What  changes  have  been 
produced  in  the  sponge?    in  the  amount  of  water  in 
the  tumbler?    Account  for  the  increased  size  of  the 
sponge  and  for  the  diminution  in  the  water  in  the  glass. 
(c)  Take  the  withered  leaf;    place  it  into  the  tumbler 
of  water.     After  a  while,   what   changes  have  been 
produced  in  the  leaf?    What  connection  between  this 
and  the  sponge?      (d)  Put  beans  into  a  tumbler  of 
water.     What  are  the  results? 

VII.  On  the  Effects  of  Surface  Exposure,     (a)  Soak 
two  handkerchiefs  in  water;  leave  one  folded  together, 
but  spread  the  other  out.    After  an  hour  or  so,  notice 
which  is  dryest.     Account  for  it.     (6)  Soak  the  sponge 
and  the  handkerchief.     Expose  both  to  the  air  for 
some  time,  leaving  the  handkerchief  rolled  up  in  a 
tight  ball.    After  an  hour  or  so,  which  can  be  seen 
to  have  dried  more  quickly?    Which  took  up  water 
most   readily,   and  which  gave  it  off  most  readily? 
Account  for  the  difference. 

What  would  be  the  advantage  to  a  plant  of  small 
compact    leaves  ?     of    large    porous    leaves  ?    Under 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     139 

what  climatic  conditions  would  each  of  these  leaves 
naturally  prevail? 

What  advantages  result  from  having  lungs  inside 
the  body  and  gills  outside? 

VIII.  On  the  Rise  of  Liquids,  (a)  Take  a  strip  of 
blotting  paper  or  filter-paper,  and  a  strip  (same  size) 
of  ordinary  writing  paper;  put  one  end  of  each  into 
water;  notice  the  difference.  How  far  above  the 
surface  of  the  water  is  the  strip  of  filter-paper  wet? 
Explain  the  difference.  (6)  Take  two  wide-mouthed 
bottles  of  equal  size  and  fill  both  with  water.  Place 
the  strip  of  filter-paper  into  one  so  as  to  project  two 
or  three  inches;  cork  both  bottles  gently.  After  a 
day  or  two  which  bottle  contains  most  water?  Ex- 
plain the  difference,  (c)  Repeat  the  experiment  after 
filling  both  bottles  as  before;  but  this  time  place  the 
wet  sponge  on  the  cork  next  to  the  strip  of  filter-paper. 
After  the  same  lapse  of  time  how  do  the  results  agree 
with  the  previous  ones  ?  Account  for  it.  How  would 
a  moist  and  a  dry  atmosphere  respectively  affect  the 
disappearance  of  water  in  the  two  bottles?  (d)  Fill 
the  two  bottles  again;  place  a  strip  of  filter-paper 
as  before  in  each  bottle,  and  cork  both  lightly.  Put 
one  of  the  bottles  into  a  tumbler  containing  half  an 
inch  of  water.  Invert  another  tumbler  over  the  top. 
Leave  the  other  exposed  to  the  dry  air  of  the  room. 
Which  loses  most  water?  Explain  the  difference. 
How  would  a  moist  climate  affect  the  amount  of 
water  transpired  from  the  leaves  of  plants?  (e)  Fill 
a  tumbler  with  water;  take  a  card  board  and 
make  a  round  opening  in  the  center  large  enough 
to  allow  the  small  end  of  a  hen's  egg  to  reach  the 
water  but  not  pass  clear  through  the  opening.  Re- 
move the  shell  very  carefully  from  the  small  end  of 
the  egg,  care  being  taken  not  to  tear  the  thin  egg- 
membrane  underneath;  an  area  a  quarter  inch  square 
will  suffice.  In  the  opposite  end  of  the  egg,  make  a 


140  Education  through  Nature 

small  opening  into  which  insert  a  small  glass  tube  and 
fix  with  sealing  wax;  allow  to  stand  for  twenty-four 
to  forty-eight  hours.  The  contents  of  the  egg  has 
risen  to  the  top  of  the  tube  and  flows  out.  Osmosis 
through  animal  membrane.  Explain  the  result. 

In  a  similar  way  roots  and  root  hairs  take  in  water 
and  dissolved  substances  from  the  soil  and  cause  it  to 
rise  in  the  stem  of  the  plant. 

The  last  experiment  is  a  clear  case  of  pressure 
caused  by  osmosis.  The  experiment  with  the  filter 
paper  is  an  illustration  of  the  effects  of  capillary  attrac- 
tion. Both  of  these  forces  are  active  in  plants,  causing 
the  flow  of  sap.  Evaporation  from  the  leaves  of  the 
plant  increases  the  rapidity  of  the  upward  current; 
just  as  the  exposure  of  the  strip  of  filter-paper  to  dry 
air  increases  the  loss  of  water  from  the  bottle. 

IX.  On  Transpiration,     (a)  Invert  a  dry  tumbler 
over  a  bunch  of  fresh  white  clover;  observe  the  cloudy 
appearance  on  the  glass,   due  to  transpiration,     (b) 
Wind  a  piece  of  sheet  rubber  tightly  around  one  finger. 
Note  the  moist  skin  on  removing  the  rubber — perspira- 
tion,    (c)  Take  two  bottles;  fill  one  with  water.     Place 
into  the  bottle  a  few  short  branches  or  stems  of  white 
clover   bearing    leaves.     Some    also    into    the    empty 
bottle.     After  a  day  or  two  note  the  difference.     Why 
does  the  water  in  one  bottle  prevent  the  wilting  of  the 
plant  ? 

X.  How    Excessive     Transpiration    is    Regulated. 
Take  two  potatoes  of  unequal  size;   peel  off  the  out- 
side of  the  larger  one  till  its  weight  is  equal  to  that  of 
the  smaller  one.     Expose  both  to  the  air  for  a  week 
or  so.     Which  is  now  the  heavier  ?    How  was  evapora> 
tion  and  drying  prevented  in  the  unpeeled  potato  ? 

Why  are  plants  and  animals  covered  with  an  outer 
cuticle?  Corks  are  made  from  bark;  put  one  into 
water;  does  it  become  soaked?  Of  what  use  is  bark 
on  stems  when  absent  from  leaves? 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     141 

XI.  On  the  Parts  of  Stems  that  Convey  the  Sap. 
(a)  Take  a  young  plant,  root  and  all  (bean  or  shep- 
herd's purse),  put  it  into  a  bottle  containing  a  weak 
solution  of  eosin  (red  ink  will  do).     Allow  to  stand 
for  three  or  four  days.     Observe:   the  root  turns  red, 
the    stem   does   not.     Why?     Are   the   veins   of   the 
leaves  colored  ?     (6)  Make  transverse  and  longitudinal 
sections  of  the  root  and  stem.     Observe:    what  areas 
are  affected  by  the  stain?  the  fibro  vascular  bundles? 
It  is  through  these,  the'n,  that  the  upward  flow  of  sap 
takes  place.     Would  the  sap  be  so  apt  to  reach  the 
leaves  if  evaporation  were  not  prevented  by  the  cuticle 
and  bark  on  the  stem? 

XII.  On  Respiration,     (a)    Immerse    some   water- 
plants  (chara,  spirogyra)  in  a  beaker  or  tumbler  full 
of  water;   place  in  sunlight.     Observe:  bubbles  rising. 
(&)  Place  a  funnel  over  the  plants  under  water,  and 
over   the  funnel  invert  a  test-tube  filled  with    water. 
Observe  the  bubbles  rising  into  the  test-tube  and  dis- 
placing the  water.    After  some  days,  when  the  test- 
tube  is  half  emptied  of  water,  the  upper  part  of  the 
tube    being    occupied    by  the    bubbles,  light  a  long 
splinter  and  after  it  has  burned  for  some  time  blow  it 
out  and  insert  the  glowing  point  of  the  stick  into  the 
test-tube.     It  bursts  into  a  flame.     This  is  evidence  of 
oxygen.     The  plant  has  been  exhaling  oxygen,     (c) 
Breathe  through  a  glass  tube  or  straw  immersed  in  a 
tumbler  of  water.     Observe:    bubbles  rise  as  in  the 
case  of  the  plant.     Put  into  the  tumbler  clear  lime- 
water  instead  of  fresh  well-water.      On  breathing  into 
this,  for  some  time  it  turns  cloudy.     Evidence  of  carbon 
dioxide  CO2.     (d)  Take  two  tumblers  or  beakers  filled 
with  water;  put  into  each  the  same  kind  and  quantity 
of  water-plants.    Place  one  in  bright  sunlight,  the  other 
in  shady  place.     In  which  are  the  most  bubbles  pro- 
duced?   What  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn? 

Remarks:   Plants,  like  animals,  exhale  carbon  diox- 


142          Education  through  Nature 

ide,  because  they  waste;  but,  in  sunlight,  the  oxygen 
given  off  because  of  the  breaking  up  of  carbon  dioxide 
and  water  to  form  starch,  is  much  in  excess  of  the  carbon 
dioxide.  Exhalation  of  oxygen  in  plants  is  due  to 
photosynthesis,  the  formation  of  starch  from  H2O 
and  CO2. 

XIII.  On  Germination,     (a)  Make  a  moist-chamber 
from  a  common  plate  and  a  bell  jar  (a  saucer  with  a 
tumbler  inverted  over  it  will  do).     Place  in  the  bottom 
of  the  chamber  a  circular  piece  of  filter-paper  not  so 
large  as  the  cover.     Moisten  well,  and  place  upon  the 
moistened  paper  the   seeds   that   are  to  be   studied. 
Place  a  second  moist  paper  over  the  seeds  till  they 
are  well  sprouted.     Keep  the  papers  moist,     (b)  In  a 
tin  basin  filled  with  black  soil  or  sawdust,  place  the 
seeds  to  be  sprouted.     Moisten  the  contents  and  keep 
moist,     (c)  If  convenient  let  each  member  of  the  class 
stir  up  a  little  patch  of  ground  in  the  school-yard  and 
plant  seeds  of  various  kinds,  such  as  peas,  beans,  flax, 
wheat,  corn,  and  flowers. 

XIV.  On  Tropisms,  Direction  of  Growth,     (a)  In  a 
tin  basin  or  wooden  box  filled  with  black  soil  or  sand, 
plant  some  beans.     Keep  moist.     As  the  plants  come 
up,  notice  the  curvature  of  the  stem,  and  how  it  gradu- 
ally straightens  out.     Leave  the  dish  in  the  same  posi- 
tion for  a  week  or  two.     Observe  how  the  plants  bend 
towards  the  window,  the  source  of  light  (heliotropism). 
(6)  Take  a  coarse   sponge;    soak  it   and  squeeze  it 
dry;   fasten  a  pin,  bent  into  a  hook,  to  a  strong  cord; 
hook  the  pin  securely  into  the  sponge;   fill  the  pores 
of  the  sponge  with  kernels  of  wheat;   invert  over  the 
sponge  a  funnel,  passing  the  cord  through  it;  suspend 
by  the  cord  and  keep  the  sponge  moist  by  pouring 
water  through  the  funnel  tube;    the  funnel  prevents 
the  sponge  from  drying  too  rapidly.    Observe  the  seeds 
sprout    and    produce    plants    growing    upside    down. 
What   can   be   inferred  ?     Does   gravity   or  moisture 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     143 

determine  the  direction  of  growth  of  the  roots?  In 
this  case  the  effect  of  gravity  is  neutralized. 

XV.  On  the  Influence  of  Environment.  Take  two 
bottles;  fill  one  with  water;  into  each  bottle  put  a  few 
fresh  stems  or  branches  of  white  clover  bearing  leaves; 
allow  to  remain  for  some  weeks.  Observe:  one  wilts, 
the  other  does  not.  Examine  the  stem  in  the  water 
and  notice  the  new  adventitious  roots.  On  what  part 
of  the  stem  are  these  produced  ?  How  has  water  pro- 
duced this  effect?  Compare  with  the  plant  in  the 
empty  bottle.  (V)  Now  pour  water  into  the  empty 
bottle;  allow  to  remain.  Are  new  roots  produced 
on  the  withered  stem? 

Remarks:  Not  water  alone,  nor  the  plant  alone, 
can  account  for  the  production  of  new  adventitious 
roots  (as  the  experiment  shows),  but  the  living  plant 
reacts  to  the  moist  environment,  and  this  reaction 
results  in  the  growth  of  new  roots;  hence  the  impor- 
tance of  action  and  reaction  in  producing  changes  in 
living  things. 

VII.  LECTURE. 

Step  Seven  should  rarely  be  omitted.  Life  is  too 
short  to  attempt  to  gather  all  facts  at  first  hand.  We 
are  fortunately  able  to  profit  by  the  labors,  thought, 
and  experience  of  others,  provided  we  have  already 
gained  enough  by  our  own  self-activity  to  be  able  to 
interpret  language  through  which  the  knowledge  of 
the  race  is  communicated  The  empirical  work 
already  done  on  the  subject  in  hand  should  have 
contributed  to  the  power  of  interpreting  language. 
It  is  because  nature  study  does  this  that  it  is  justly 
regarded  as  the  foundation  of  all  other  work  of  the 
school.  How  absurd  it  would  be  not  to  use  this 
slowly  acquired  power  of  interpreting  language! 

In  the  preceding  steps,  ideas  needing  names  have 
been  felt  by  the  pupil  and  noticed  by  the  teacher, 


144  Education  through  Nature 

By  this  time  each  important  idea  should  be  associated 
with  a  symbol,  a  word  or  name,  which  when  heard 
will  recall  the  appropriate  image.  The  object  has 
suggested  the  idea,  the  teacher  has  supplied  the  word. 
Consequently  the  word  should  mean  something  now 
to  the  pupil. 

In  gaining  additional  information  through  the 
medium  of  language,  the  pupil  has  to  reverse  the 
natural  processes.  He  must  now  gain  an  idea  from  its 
symbol;  translate,  so  to  speak,  language  into  ideas. 

Such  supplementary  information  can  be  gained  by 
the  pupil  in  two  ways;  first,  by  oral  communication 
by  the  teacher;  second,  by  reading  books  on  the  sub- 
ject. Hence  the  lecture  and  the  library. 

The  amount  of  library  work  to  be  done  in  connection 
with  any  subject  must  depend  on  the  facilities  obtain- 
able. The  teacher,  at  least,  should  have  a  nature- 
study  library.  Scientific  works  on  natural  history  are 
not  expensive  (see  list  in  Part  II,  Chap.  IV).  Aside 
from  the  additional  information  gained  from  books 
on  any  one  subject,  there  is  the  more  general  benefit 
derived  from  the  habit  of  using  works  of  reference, 
not  to  mention  the  power  of  gathering  knowledge  from 
the  printed  page. 

The  book  of  reference  may  be  used  in  two  ways: 
(i)  the  pupil  may  consult  the  book;  (2)  the  teacher 
may  read  to  the  class  important  passages  bearing  on 
the  subject  studied.  Such  readings  may  sometimes 
be  substituted  for  the  lecture,  especially  in  the  lower 
grades. 

Many  teachers  feel  that  the  lecture  is  out  of  place 
in  nature  study,  and  would  perhaps  maintain  that 
the  work  should  be  all  observation  work  and  develop- 
mental work.  That  would  be  very  true  if  the  first 
steps  had  not  already  been  taken.  It  is  not  true  when 
the  first  part  of  the  work  has  been  properly  done. 

In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  should  be  able  to  get 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     145 

more  than  the  pupil  can  out  of  even  an  unfamiliar 
subject.  In  the  second  place,  she  is  assumed  to 
have  a  more  general  store  of  knowledge  than  the  pupil, 
and  the  ability  to  see  the  relation  of  things  in  a  truer 
light.  Hence  she  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  arrange 
the  material  gathered  in  the  preceding  work  into  a 
logical  and  consistent  whole. 

Most  pupils  enjoy  a  lecture  by  the  teacher  when 
adapted  to  their  needs  and  properly  presented.  In 
the  primary  grades  the  lecture  should  resemble  a 
story;  in  the  grammar  grades  statements  should  be 
more  concise.  If  facts  are  properly  arranged  they 
are  usually  interesting  in  themselves.  The  baby-talk 
of  the  kindergarten  and  the  primary  grade  is  not 
necessary  and  should  never  be  tolerated  in  the  upper 
grades.  The  teacher  in  these  grades  should  find  the 
source  of  interest  in  the  facts  themselves,  not  in  imagi- 
nary and  fictitious  resemblances,  and  should  endeavor 
to  awaken  in  her  pupils  a  delight  in  truth  for  truth's 
sake.  This  often  requires  effort  and  careful  prepa- 
ration. 

The  amount  of  matter  to  be  presented  orally  in 
this  way  must  depend  on  the  grade,  or  rather  the  general 
maturity  of  the  pupil.  After  an  intensive  study  of  the 
Bean  Plant  for  several  weeks,  including  the  first  seven 
steps,  as  prescribed  in  the  course  of  study  for  the 
eighth  grade,  the  teacher  might  give  the  following 
summary  of  The  Principal  Facts  in  the  History  of  a 
Plant  (See  Plants,  Part  II,  Chap.  I). 

VIII.  DRAWING. 

In  Step  Eight  the  pupil  makes  his  first  attempt  to 
express  in  part,  either  by  pencil,  crayon  or  colors,  the 
ideas  he  has  gained  in  the  preceding  work.  He  is  at 
once  confronted  with  the  question  whether  to  make  a 
pretty  picture  as  it  seems  to  him  it  ought  to  be,  or 
whether  to  represent  the  real  thing  regardless  of  its 


146  Education  through  Nature 

general  effect.  If  this  question  does  not  at  once  occur 
to  him,  effort  should  be  made  to  lead  him  to  understand 
that  objects  may  be  drawn  as  they  really  are,  or  they 
may  be  idealized,  just  as  an  object  may  be  considered 
scientifically  as  to  fact,  or  emotionally  as  to  real  or 
imagined  meaning  and  beauty.  Which  of  these 
criteria  should  prevail  is  often  a  serious  question  for 
the  teacher  to  decide. 

Pupils  who  have  been  trained  in  the  ordinary  free- 
hand drawing  often  experience  most  difficulty  in 
representing  minute  details  in  form  and  structure. 
They  are  apt  to  make  a  few  bold  strokes  which  may 
look  well  enough  at  a  distance,  but  which  convey  no 
true  picture  of  the  reality.  Shall  this  mode  of  draw- 
ing be  allowed  or  must  it  be  prohibited  ? 

To  answer  this,  we  may  ask,  what  is  the  object  of 
drawing?  In  the  first  place,  ideas  of  form,  color, 
shade,  and  structure  can  be  better  expressed  in  this 
way  than  by  means  of  language.  If  it  is  a  part  of  nature 
study,  those  ideas  should  correspond  to  the  reality  and 
should  be  so  expressed  as  to  accurately  represent  the 
reality.  But  this  expression  is  not  the  final  object  of 
the  work.  It  is  supposed  to  have  an  educational 
value,  as  it  involves  various  judgments  and  many 
neural  and  muscular  activities.  Now,  the  object  is 
the  ability  to  form  true  judgments,  and  the  ability  to 
so  control  the  hand  as  to  exactly  represent  or  execute 
what  the  judgment  has  found  to  be  true.  The  benefit 
of  this  part  of  the  work  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  puts  the 
body  into  proper  relation  to  the  activities  of  the  higher 
centers  and  the  mind,  making  the  hand  execute  what 
the  mind  dictates.  The  more  completely  this  is 
realized,  the  more  effective  is  the  training.  But  the 
dictates  of  the  mind  must  receive  their  sanction  from 
the  testimony  of  the  senses;  otherwise  the  drawing 
would  represent  mere  imaginary  creations  instead  of 
a  real  thing.  In  imaginary  representation  there  is  no 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study     147 

true  judgment  involved;  and  no  exercise  of  the  will 
in  controlling  the  hand  in  the  execution  of  a  definite 
task.  The  moral  effect  of  the  training  in  that  case 
is  lost. 

By  carefully  comparing  his  drawing  with  the  object, 
the  pupil  is  enabled  to  detect  shades  of  difference  in 
structure,  form,  and  color  which  would  otherwise 
escape  him,  and  enables  him  the  better  to  measure 
his  success.  This  in  itself  adds  interest  to  the  exer- 
cise and  gives  a  training  in  accurate  seeing  which  is 
indispensable. 

In  the  lower  grades,  all  kinds  of  allowances  have 
to  be  made;  yet  the  principle  is  the  same  here  as  in  all 
other  steps,  namely,  progress  should  be  made  from 
the  original  lawlessness  towards  more  and  more 
fidelity  to  truth.  Neatness  and  accuracy  must  be 
the  criterion  for  criticism. 

As  a  rule,  it  seems  desirable  to  allow  the  pupil  to 
use  his  creative  and  artistic  instinct  in  an  elaborate 
representation  of  the  whole  as  a  general  frontispiece  to 
his  composition,  but  to  insist  on  extreme  accuracy  in 
representing  the  finer  details  of  structure.  (See  PupiFs 
Compositions,  Part  I,  Chapter  V).  It  is  often  desirable 
to  have  the  drawings  made  or  copied  on  separate 
slips  to  be  inserted  in  the  composition  in  its  appro- 
priate paragraph. 

Even  when  no  attempt  at  systematic  drawing  is 
made,  as  in  many  rural  districts,  good  work  can  be 
obtained  by  means  of  pencils.  Pencils  should  be 
well  sharpened  but  not  to  a  fine  point.  The  point 
may  be  rounded  off  by  rubbing  it  on  paper.  Stubs 
may  be  made  by  the  pupil  by  rolling  up  into  a  solid 
pencil,  strips  of  ordinary  writing  paper  wound  with  a 
string.  Forcing  the  center  of  this  roll  down  produces 
a  point  which  can  be  used  to  transfer  the  lead  from 
the  paper  used  in  trimming  the  pencil  to  the  drawing 
to  be  shaded. 


148  Education  through  Nature 


IX.  WRITING. 

Step  Nine  cannot  be  taken  by  pupils  who  have  not 
learned  to  write.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  pupil's 
school  work,  nature  study  should  be  used  chiefly  with 
a  view  to  teaching  reading  and  writing.  (See  Primary 
Method,  Section  12). 

Writing  in  connection  with  this  work  is  important. 
It  not  only  affords  means  of  expressing  ideas  that 
cannot  well  be  expressed  in  drawing,  but  it  is  the 
most  natural  way  of  learning  spelling,  penmanship, 
and  composition.  Written  work  possesses  the  char- 
acter of  permanence  more  strongly  than  oral  language, 
and  hence  is  more  favorable  to  accuracy  and  delibera- 
tion in  the  statements.  Errors  can  be  marked  and 
the  object  re-examined  without  the  risk  of  losing 
sight  of  the  problems.  The  written  work  should 
also  command  more  forethought  in  arranging  the 
matter  to  be  communicated,  and  thus  contribute  to  a 
better  assimilation  of  the  knowledge  gained. 

The  question  as  to  the  place  of  the  imagination  in 
this  part  of  the  work  is  the  same  as  in  oral  speech. 
The  two  aspects  of  the  subject  should  be  separated 
as  sharply  as  possible.  We  naturally  make  allowances 
in  extemporaneous  speech,  but  instinctively  demand 
greater  accuracy  and  deliberation  in  written  work. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  pupil  should  not  conform 
to  this  law  of  our  nature.  Again,  allowances  must 
be  made  as  in  the  case  of  drawing.  In  dealing  with 
the  facts  let  the  pupil  confine  himself  to  them,  but 
give  him  the  opportunity  to  express  his  appreciation 
at  the  end  in  whatever  manner  his  fancy  may  dictate. 
We  are  entitled  to  liberty  when  we  have  earned  it, 
and  may  properly  use  exclamations  after  we  have 
shown  that  there  is  something  to  admire. 

The  educational  value  of  that  deliberation  and 
carefulness  in  statements  of  facts  and  that  accurate 


Suggestions  and  Course  of  Study      149 

discrimination  between  the  finer  shades  of  meanings 
of  terms  used  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  It  is 
the  final  product  of  a  well-ordered  mind,  and  has  not 
only  a  scientific  but  also  an  ethical  value.  It  is  well 
for  the  teacher  in  the  grades  to  realize  that  his  pupils 
are  to  become  men  and  women,  and  that  even  in  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  grades  they  are  by  no  means 
mere  babies. 

X.  READING. 

Step  Ten  may  be  omitted  occasionally  when  classes 
are  so  large  as  to  render  repetition  monotonous.  It 
should  not  be  omitted  in  the  lower  grades  where  intelli- 
gent reading  is  one  of  the  principal  aims  of  the  work. 
If  the  writing  is  worth  while,  the  reading  should  be. 
The  intellectual  and  physical  processes  involved  in 
writing  and  in  reading  are  opposites  and  supplement 
each  other.  Thus  in  writing,  the  pupil  puts  his  own 
ideas  into  symbols,  while  in  reading  he  converts 
those  same  symbols  into  ideas  resembling  his  original 
ones.  In  the  latter  process  he  naturally  acquires 
the  power  of  gaining  ideas  from  the  printed  page. 
Having  previously  expressed  the  same  ideas,  he  should 
be  able  to  read  intelligently  from  the  beginning. 

Supplementary  reading  in  natural  history  is  very 
interesting  to  pupils  of  most  grades,  and  may  often 
be  introduced  as  reading  exercises  instead  of  the 
pupil's  own  compositions.  Then,  too,  the  best  com- 
positions may  be  preserved,  and  variety  secured,  by 
having  them  read  at  the  end  of  a  certain  division  of 
the  subject. 

In  the  primary  grades  number  work  may  be  intro- 
duced in  connection  with  the  object  studied,  thus 
making  the  object  the  central  thing  in  all  the  pupil's 
school-work. 


CHAPTER  V 

Examples  of  Pupils'  Work  in 
Nature  Study 

XIV.  The  Apple-tree.    By  J.  S.  M. 

(Guiding  Outline.     Supplied  by  the  teacher.) 

1.  Introduction:     (a)    distribution;     (b)    economic   uses; 
(c)  uses  of  the  plant. 

2.  Roots:   (a)  uses;    (b)  kinds;   (c)  effects  of  moisture. 

3.  Stem:   (a)  form;   (b)  size;   (c)  kind;   (d)  composition; 
(e)  grafting;    (/)  pruning;    (g)  function;    (h)  struggle  for 
existence  among  branches. 

4.  Leaves:    (a)  arrangement;    (b)  color;    (c)  form;    (d) 
margin;    (e)  venation. 

5.  Flower:    (a)  arrangement;    (b)  numerical  plan;    (c) 
form;   (d)  adnation;   (e)  position;   (/)  use. 

6.  Fruit:     (a)    kind;     (b)    appearance;     (c)   relation   to 
flower. 

7.  Relation  to  environment:   (a)  effects  of  neglect;   (b)  re- 
lation to  soil;   (c)  relation  to  air;   (d)  relation  to  light. 

8.  Relation  to  animals. 

9.  Relation  to  other  plants. 

10.  Poetry. 

i.  Apple-trees  are  found  nearly  everywhere  in  the  tem- 
perate zones.  They  grow  also  as  far  north  as  the  Arctic 
circle  and  as  far  south  as  Northern  Africa.  Their  chief 
economic  use  is  as  a  food,  the  fruit  being  juicy  and  delicious 
to  the  palate.  They  are  also  used  for  medicinal  purposes. 
The  primary  use  of  the  fruit,  however,  is  not  for  man's 
benefit,  but  for  the  distribution  of  the  seeds,  which  are  the 

150 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work 


plant's  final  product,  and  the  variety  of  which  determine 
the  kind  of  tree  to  be  developed. 

2.  The  roots  of  the  apple-tree  are  arboreous,  spreading 
over  the  surface  or  growing  down  deep,  according  to  its 
environment.     They  are  perennial,  and,  like  all  such  roots, 
serve  to  absorb  and  store  up  moisture  and  food  from  the 
earth. 

3.  The  stem  is  upright,  ranging  from  three  and  a  half 
to  four  or  five  feet  in  length.     It  is  stout  and  woody,  having 
all  the  parts   found  in  exogenous  plants,   namely,   pith, 
medullary  sheath,  wood,  bast  fibers,  green  bark  or  cam- 
bium, and  outside  bark  or  epidermis. 


Section  of  Wood. 

It  is  in  the  cambium  or  green-bark  layer  that  growth 
takes  place.  Grafters  have  made  use  of  this  by  uniting 
the  cambium  layer  of  one  tree  with  a  branch  of  some  other 
tree.  There  are  numerous  ways  of  grafting,  but  the  suc- 
cess of  any  depends  upon  the  union  of  the  cambium  layers. 
By  means  of  this  process  a  frail  but  excellent  variety  of 
fruit  may  be  made  to  grow  strong  and  hardy.  The  apple- 
tree  is  delinquescent  and  its  shape  is  determined  by  the 
branching.  Naturally,  it  is  inclined  to  branch  out  from 
the  center,  but  cultivation  has  increased  this  inclination, 


152  Education  through  Nature 

and  thus  made  the  top  rounder.  This  is  done  by  pruning; 
the  middle  branches  and  superfluous  outside  twigs  are 
cut  off  and  the  outside  branches  left  to  take  the  lead. 
There  are  generally  five  main  branches  coming  out  from 
the  trunk,  and  from  these  grow  others  smaller  in  size. 
The  branching  would  go  on  and  on,  becoming  very  com- 
plicated and  tangled  if  it  were  not  for  the  natural  selection 
taking  place  all  the  time.  The  branches  that  get  the  best 
start  in  the  beginning  take  up  most  of  the  nourishment 
stored  in  the  stem  and  roots,  and  hence  by  their  growth 
are  able  to  crowd  out  the  less  fortunate  and  shade  them 
from  sunlight.  This  is  the  reason  for  the  numerous  little 
branches  and  twigs  scattered  here  and  there  throughout 
the  tree.  The  function  of  the  stem  and  branches  is  three- 
fold; first,  to  lift  the  plant  above  the  ground  so  that  the 
leaves  may  be  in  the  sunlight,  and  the  flowers  and  fruits 
may  receive  opportunity  for  fertilization  and  distribution; 
second,  to  conduct  the  raw  sap  from  the  roots  to  the  upper 
extremities  of  the  tree;  third,  to  distribute  the  food  ma- 
terial wherever  needed. 


The  Apple  Leaf. 

4.  The  leaves  are  of  the  alternate,  two-fifths  arrange- 
ment. They  are  deep  green  in  color.  Their  general 
form  is  ovate  with  rounded  base,  acute  apex,  and  doubly 
serrate  margin.  They  are  pinnately  veined,  and  have  short 
petioles  and  free  stipules. 

"5.  The  flowers  of  the  apple-tree  are  arranged  in  flat 
compound  curves.  They  are  built  on  the  plan  of  five 
and  vary  from  three-fourths  to  one  and  one-fourth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter.  The  calyx  is  turbinate  in  form  and  has 


f      v  Or  THt  ^V 

(  UNIVERSITY  / 

Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          153 

five  bright  green  sepals  of  united  cohesion,  semi -inferior 
to  the  pistil.  The  delicate  pink  corolla  consists  of  five 
petals  of  distinct  cohesion  and  superior  adnation.  There 
are  usually  twenty  stamens  inserted  with  the  petals  on  the 
throats  of  the  calyx.  The  base  of  the  calyx,  however,  is 
united  with  the  base  of  the  pistil  or  ovary,  which  has  five 
cells,  with  two  ovules  in  each  cell.  The  pistil  has  five 
styles,  with  a  rounded  stigma  on  the  end  of  each.  As  in 
all  plants,  the  flower  of  the  apple  bears  a  definite  relation 
to  the  stem  and  branches.  The  flower  buds  and  the  leaf 
buds  arise  in  the  same  position.  The  sepals,  as  shown 
by  their  form  and  color,  are  but  modified  leaves;  so  also 
are  the  petals,  though  their  appearance  does  not  show  it 
so  plainly.  The  pistils  and  stamens,  too,  are  merely 
modifications  of  leaves.  The  apple-blossoms  by  their  fra- 
grance attract  the  bees  and  thus,  through  the  agency  of 
these  insects,  cross-fertilization  takes  place. 


Apple-blossoms. 

6.  The  fruit  of  the  apple-tree  is  an  indehiscerit  pome. 
It  matures  late  in  the  summer  and  during  the  fall.  The 
skin  is  generally  smooth  and  variously  colored,  being  red, 
yellow,  brown,  or  striped,  according  to  the  variety.  The 
apple  is  really  the  matured  calyx  of  the  blossom.  In  the 
center  is  the  core,  which  in  a  cross-section  appears  as  a 
star-shaped  figure  of  five  points.  These  are  the  ovary 
cells,  and  they  contain  the  seeds.  The  seeds  are  brown 
when  ripe  and  their  coats  are  not  very  hard.  The  kernel 
has  a  rather  rich  taste  not  at  all  unpleasant. 


154        Education  through  Nature 

7.  The  apple-tree  is  a  rather  hardy  plant,  adapting 
itself  quite  readily  to  circumstances.  It  grows  best  in  a 
comparatively  dry,  sandy  soil.  That  is  to  say,  its  fruit  is 
apt  to  be  larger  and  more  palatable  under  such  conditions 
because  then  there  is  less  inducement  for  the  very  great 
development  of  the  roots  and  stem,  a  thing  that  always 
takes  place  in  an  extremely  moist  soil.  While  not  requir- 
ing very  great  care  in  comparison  with  that  necessitated 
by  many  other  trees,  the  apple-tree,  if  neglected  long 


w  A  Divided  Apple. 

will  produce  very  tiny  fruit.  Its  branches  grow  more  up" 
right,  and  the  twigs  become  spine-like.  The  trunk  is 
generally  quite  sturdy  and  strong,  not  easily  broken  by 
wind-storms,  though  often  the  shape  of  the  whole  tree  is 
bent  so  as  to  become  one-sided,  on  account  of  the  wind. 

8.  The  honey-bees    and    yellow-jackets  are  the  insects 
found  in  the  greatest  numbers  about  apple-trees.     They 
are  harmless,  however,  and  aid  in  the  fertilization  necessary 
for  reproduction.     Often   the   caterpillars  will   take  pos- 
session of  an  apple  orchard  and  destroy  all  the  leaves  and 
fruit,  leaving  nothing  but  the  bare  branches  of  the  trees, 
which  but  a  short  time  before  were  beautiful  masses  of 
green  foliage  and  fruit. 

9.  The  family  to  which  the   apple-tree  belongs  is  the 
Rosacece.     Related  to  it  we  find  the  common  and  familiar 
strawberry,  blackberry,  rose,  pear,  and  cherry,  all  exhibit- 
ing great  variety  of  shape  and  size,  and  yet  similar  enough 
to  be  placed  in  one  single  group. 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          155 

10.  William  Cullen  Bryant,  in  his  poem,  "The  Planting 
of  the  Apple-tree,"  expresses  some  very  beautiful  thoughts. 
The  following  stanzas  are  especially  well  put: 


An  Apple. 

"  What  plant  we  in  this  apple-tree? 
Fruits  that  shall  swell  in  sunny  June, 
And  redden  in  the  August  moon, 
And  drop  when  gentle  airs  come  by 
That  fan  the  blue  September  sky; 
While  children  come,  with  cries  of  glee, 
And  seek  them  where  the  fragrant  grass 
Betrays  their  bed  to  those  who  pass 
At  the  foot  of  the  apple-tree. 


Each  year  shall  give  this  apple-tree 
A  broader  flush  of  roseate  bloom, 
A  deeper  maze  of  verdurous  gloom, 
And  loosen  when  the  frost  clouds  lower 
The  crisp  brown  leaves  in  thicker  shower. 
The  years  shall  come  and  pass,  but  we 
Shall  hear  no  longer  where  we  lie, 
The  summer's  songs,  the  autumn's  sigh 
In  the  boughs  of  the  apple-tree." 


156  Education  through  Nature 

XV.  Grasshoppers.     By  B.  H.  B. 

(Outline.     Supplied  by  the  teacher.) 

i.  Introduction,  anecdotes;  2.  body;  3.  eyes;  4.  antenna; 
5.  mouth- parts ;  6.  thorax;  7.  wings;  8.  legs;  9.  protective 
resemblances;  10.  color;  n.  sense  of  hearing;  12.  abdomen; 
13.  reproduction;  14.  internal  organs,  15.  respiration;  16. 


i.  Most  of  us  like  the  cry  of  the  grasshopper;  it  brings 
to  mind  the  warm,  dry,  sunny  days,  the  time  of  fruit  and 
flowers. 

He  likes  to  sing,  is  fond  of  moonlight,  likes  the  shade 
and  the  cool,  still  places  under  the  green  herbs. 

When  you  see  the  large  long  legs  stretched  out  behind, 
and  the  long  feelers  waving  to  the  wind,  you  will  know  this 
is  a  grasshopper,  the  joyful,  happy  singer  of  the  meadow. 

The  name  of  the  insect  at  once  tells  you  something  about 
him.  He  lives  much  in  the  grass;  his  chief  motion  is  in 
hops  and  long  jumps. 

Not  all  grasshoppers  live  in  the  grass  however;  some 
spend  most  of  their  time  in  trees,  some  live  in  garden  walls, 
or  under  the  leaves,  and  in  the  grass  of  the  dusty  wayside. 
Some  also  live  in  woods,  among  the  pine-  and  fir-trees.  In 
South  America  there  are  large  and  splendid  grasshoppers; 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          157 

their  wings  are  so  gay  that  when  they  fly  they  look  much 
like  butterflies. 

The  grasshopper  is  a  musical  insect.  He  hhas  anoter 
name,  the  murmurer;  this  is  because  of  the  noise  or  song 
he  makes.  He  sings  to  the  female  grasshopper  in  loud, 
shrill  tones.  It  is  made  by  rubbing  his  wings  one  upon 
the  other.  He  has  a  little  skin,  like  a  tight  drumhead, 
set  in  each  wing.  As  he  moves  his  wings,  this  tiny  drum 
vibrates,  or  trembles,  and  makes  the  shrill  sound.  This 
is  called  stridulation. 

The  female  grasshopper  does  not  have  this  drum  in  her 
wings.  She  has,  however,  at  the  end  of  her  body,  a  nice 
little  swcrd,  called  ovipositor.  She  is  called  the  jumper 
with  the  sword.  This  little  sword  opens  into  several  blades. 
She  uses  it  to  place  her  eggs  snugly  into  the  ground.  The 
sword  blade  opens  and  the  eggs  slide  safely  clown  between 
them,  into  the  little  earth-bed.  There  they  lie  until  the 
young  grasshoppers  hatch  out. 

The  grasshopper  generally  dies  near  where  it  was  born. 
Frost  and  cold  kill  it.  It  does  not  outlive  the  winter,  like 
bees  and  butterflies. 

Grasshoppers  feed  chiefly  on  grasses  of  different  kinds, 
including  most  of  the  cultivated  grains.  They  feed  on 
almost  any  green  part  of  plants.  Some  are  gregarious  and 
may  be  very  destructive.  They  sometimes  appear  in 
great  numbers,  and  when  they  do  they  damage  the  grass 
and  young  crops.  But  they  do  not  usually  go  in  swarms 
as  locusts  do,  who  arc  their  near  relatives. 

There  is  a  grasshopper  called  the  Rocky  Mountain 
grasshopper,  because  the  old  grasshoppers  go  to  the  moun- 
tains to  lay  their  eggs.  The  little  ones  live  in  the  mountains 
until  their  wings  are  strong,  and  then  all  the  grasshoppers 
leave  the  mountains  together,  flying  and  jumping  along  in 
such  numbers  that  they  terrify  the  farmers  in  the  plain 
below,  for  they  eat  up  every  green  thing  in  their  way, 
fields  of  corn  and  wheat,  and  grass. 

Insects  comprise  the  six-footed  Arthropods,  nearly  one- 
half  of  the  animal  kingdom,  there  being  about  two  hundred 
thousand  species. 

The  Class  Insecta  are  distinguished  by  having  a  body 
in  three  parts,  head,  thorax,  and  abdomen  distinct.  Three 


158  Education  through  Nature 

pairs  of  jointed  legs.  One  pair  of  antennas  and  generally 
two  pairs  of  wings.  The  order  to  which  the  grasshopper 
belongs  is  Grthoptera. 

The  name  grasshopper  is  applied  to  several  families 
closely  related — grasshoppers,  locusts,  crickets,  cock- 
roaches, etc.  Their  body  is  usually  flattened,  pro  thorax 
large  and  squarish,  mouth  parts  adapted  for  biting.  Meta- 
morphosis often  incomplete;  pupa  often  active;  larva 
flattened,  often  resembling  the  adult.  This  order  is  called 
the  straight  wings  because  the  insects  belonging  to  it  do 
not  fold  their  wings  crosswise.  There  are  six  families  of 
the  straight  wings,  but  the  grasshopper,  locust,  and  cricket 
interest  us  most. 

A  locust  is  not  a  grasshopper,  but  much  like  a  grass- 
hopper. It  is  his  nearest  relative.  We  do  not  like  locusts 
because  they  do  great  harm.  They  are  generally  larger  than 
grasshoppers  and  much  more  greedy.  They  destroy  all 
plants  that  come  in  their  way,  even  to  the  bark  of  trees. 
Locusts  live  in  swarms.  Instead  of  dying  and  living 
where  they  were  born,  they  are  given  to  travel.  They 
generally  live  in  hot  lands,  as  Asia  and  Africa.  In  FAirope 
and  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  they  are  not 
common,  but  in  the  Western  States  they  have  done  much 
harm. 

His  feelers  are  shorter  than  those  of  the  grasshopper. 
The  female  locust  has  no  sword  for  placing  her  eggs; 
she  lays  them  in  the  earth  in  long  tubes.  Many  boys 
make  a  living  by  digging  them  from  the  earth  and  selling 
them  to  be  destroyed. 

People  try  many  ways  of  killing  locusts.  Sometimes  deep 
trenches  are  cut  and  filled  with  water  so  that  young  un- 
winged  locusts,  as  they  run  along  the  ground,  will  fall  in 
and  be  drowned.  They  are  in  such  numbers  that  the 
drowned  ones  soon  fill  the  trenches.  The  others  run 
safely  over  the  dead  bodies.  Sometimes  great  fires  are  lit 
across  their  path.  Then  the  hordes  of  locusts  crowd  on, 
and  at  last  the  fires  are  put  out  by  the  burned  bodies. 
After  that  the  others  pass  on  unhurt. 

One  great  trouble  about  locusts  is,  that  when  a  full- 
grown  swarm  passes  through  a  place  the  ground  is  left 
full  of  eggs.  The  next  year  these  hatch  and  the  larvje  and 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          159 

pupae  eat  up  all  that  has  grown  since  their  parents  ravaged 
the  land. 

Famines  of  two  or  three  years*  duration  have  been  caused 
in  this  way.  Foreign  locusts  are  splendid  to  look  at. 
They  are  dressed  like  soldiers  in  crimson  and  blue.  Their 
fierce  eyes  shine  and  the  rush  of  their  wings  makes  a  sound 
like  the  coming  of  an  army.  We  can  scarcely  believe 
or  understand  what  we  are  told  about  the  multitudes  of 
these  insects  which  appear  in  the  East.  The  Bible  says 
that  John  the  Baptist  fed  on  locusts  and  wild  honey.  Lo- 
cust is  the  Bible  name  for  grasshopper. 

In  the  far  East  even  now  people  catch  grasshoppers, 
roast  them,  and  grind  them  into  meal  which  they  think 
very  good ;  they  eat  them  fried  in  oil  and  salt. 

People  hear  with  terror  that  locusts  are  coming.  They 
know  their  crops  will  be  eaten  up,  then  food  will  be  scarce 
and  people  will  be  poor.  They  fill  the  sky  like  a  great  cloud, 
so  that  the  day  is  darkened.  When  they  see  a  green  place 
they  settle  to  feed.  In  a  few  minutes  the  green  is  all  gone. 
The  place  is  as  bare  as  if  a  fire  had  swept  over  it.  Locusts 
fly  with  the  wind  and  are  often  driven  into  the  sea  and 
drowned.  The  coast  of  Africa  has  been  found  covered 
thick  with  them  for  a  space  of  fifty  miles. 

They  are  very  strong  on  the  wing,  some  species  being 
very  large.  A  great  swarm  of  locusts  was  met  by  a  ship 
twelve  hundred  miles  from  shore.  They  surrounded  the 
ship  and  hid  the  sun.  They  are  so  strong  that  they  can 
go  from  one  country  to  another.  They  fly  in  the  daytime 
when  the  air  is  hot  and  dry;  towards  evening  they  run 
alcng  the  ground  and  eat  everything  in  their  path. 

The  front  of  the  locust's  head  is  harder  and  thicker 
than  the  grasshopper's.  The  hind  legs  are  also  thicker 
and  stronger  than  even  the  big,  strong  ones  of  the  grass- 
hopper. The  locust  sometimes  makes  loud,  shrill  sounds 
by  rubbing  the  inner  surface  of  the  hind  legs  against  the 
outer  surface  of  the  front  wings.  Sometimes  the  sound 
is  very  loud.  Locusts  are  land  pirates  and  not  welcome 
visitors  in  the  regions  where  they  abound. 

The  cricket  is  as  happy  and  harmless  as  the  locust  is 
destructive.  He  may  be  seen  creeping  out  of  the  hearth 
and  waving  his  long  feelers  gently  in  the  heat.  There 


160  Education  through  Nature 

are  house-crickets,  field-crickets,  and  mole-crickets.  They 
have  a  shrill,  gay  little  song.  The  body  is  not  as  slender  as 
that  of  the  grasshopper,  but  is  short  and  thick.  He  also 
has  a  little  thin  drumhead  for  his  music.  His  name  sug- 
gests the  noise  he  makes. 

The  French  call  him  cri-cri.  The  field-crickets  sing 
all  day,  the  house-crickets  and  mole-crickets  sing  only 
at  night.  The  cricket  has  strong  jaws,  sharp  teeth,  and 
a  thick  round  tongue.  His  feet  are  not  broad  and  thick 
like  the  grasshopper's.  He  does  not  run  up  plants  as  the 
grasshopper  does.  The  cricket  runs  about  the  ground; 
he  has  sharp  thin  feet.  Sometimes  he  has  stiff  hairs  on 
them. 

Crickets  are  fond  of  moisture,  they  are  thirsty  creatures, 
they  will  drink  any  liquid  left  in  the  way;  they  are  also 
greedy  and  will  eat  anything,  even  to  woolen  clothes. 
Once  a  cook  laid  upon  the  grass  a  large  piece  of  woolen 
blanket  on  which  she  had  spilled  some  bread  sponge.  She  ' 
left  it  there  thirty -six  hours;  when  she  went  for  it  the 
crickets  had  eaten  nearly  all  of  it.  The  blanket  was  so  full 
of  holes  it  was  like  a  net.  There  were  more  holes  than 
there  was  blanket. 

Crickets  do  not  like  to  change  their  homes;  they  prefer 
to  stay  where  they  were  born.  Unless  they  fly  to  move  from 
home  to  home  they  do  not  use  their  wings.  They  walk  or 
hop. 

The  poets  or  story-tellers  are  very  fond  of  crickets.  Many 
people  think  it  lucky  to  have  them  sing  in  the  hearth.  They 
like  new  houses,  where  the  mortar  is  not  too  hard  for  them 
to  pick  some  of  it  out  and  make  their  little  home;  the 
field-cricket  does  this  in  the  fall,  choosing  the  kitchen  or 
well-warmed  rooms  to  live  in.  Little  French  children  fish 
for  crickets  by  tying  an  ant  to  a  thread  and  dropping  it 
into  the  hole.  You  can  also  make  the  cricket  come  out  by 
poking  a  blade  of  grass  into  his  hole. 

The  field-cricket  lays  his  eggs  in  the  ground.  In  Spain 
the  people  like  the  cricket's  song  so  much  that  they  keep 
crickets  in  little  cages  to  sing  for  them.  If  they  have  plenty 
to  .eat  arrd  drink  they  will  sing  and  be  happy.  Each 
cricket  will  need  a  cage  all  for  himself.  Crickets,  like 
grasshoppers,  if  shut  up  together,  will  fight,  until  one  i§ 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          161 

killed,  then  he  is  eaten  by  the  victor.     Crickets  always 
live  alone. 


/v|cLiall<xe 


Head  and  Mouth-parts  of  Grasshopper. 

2.  The  body  of  the  grasshopper  is  made  of  chitin,  pro- 
tecting the  delicate  parts  within.     This  integument  is  at 
intervals  segmented  or  jointed,  the  segments  are  more  or  less 
like  rings,  which  in  turn  are  subdivided  into  pieces.     The 
body  consists  of  seventeen  of  these  segments — four  in  the 
head,  three  in  the  thorax,  and  ten  in  the  hind  body  or 
abdomen.     The  organs  of  sense  are  in  the  head. 

3.  The  head   also   carries   the   compound   eyes,   which 
are  composed  of  a  large  number  of  hexagonal  cornea,  or 
facets,  often  many  thousands.     They  are  so  round  that 
the  grasshopper  can  see  in  all  directions  at  once.     That  is 
why  it  is  so  hard  to  catch  one  even  when  you  come  softly  up 
behind  him.     The  ocelli  or  simple  eyes  are  three  in  num- 
ber, two  posterior  and  one  anterior  ocellus.     Insects  see 
objects  best  when  moving. 

4.  The  antennae  or  feelers  are  inserted  in  front  of  the 
eyes,  and  between  them  is  the  anterior  ocellus,  or  simple 
eye.     All  are  tubular  and  jointed.     They  are  supposed  to 
be  organs  of  touch  and  also  sensitive  to  sound. 

There  are  long-haired   and   short-horned  grasshoppers. 
The  Katydid,  which  is  the  green  giasshopper,  has  antennae 


1 62  Education  through  Nature 

longer  than  its  body.  The  song  of  the  Katydid  seems 
to  exist  in  these  words  repeated  again  and  again  with  a 
slight  variation. 

5.  The  grasshopper  is  a  great  eater;  you  will  be  sur- 
prised to  find  how  quickly  he  will  eat  a  clover  leaf.  His 
jaws  are  very  sharp  and  strong;  he  works  them  sideways 
(horizontally)  instead  of  up  and  down.  He  has  a  number 
of  mouth  parts  which  help  him  get  the  leaf  into  his  mouth 
and  he  uses  his  front  legs  besides,  so  it  is  not  strange  that 
he  can  eat  up  the  leaf  so  fast. 

The  upper  lip  is  called  the  labrum.  The  true  jaws  are 
the  mandibles,  which  are  single-jointed;  they  are  also 
broad  and  short,  with  a  toothed  cutting  and  grinding  edge, 
adapted  for  biting.  The  mandibles  are  situated  on  each 
side  of  the  mouth. 

Opening  behind  the  mandibles  are  the  maxillae,  which 
are  divided  into  three  lobes,  the  inner  armed  with  teeth 
or  spines,  the  middle  lobe  unarmed,  while  the  outer  forms 
a  five-jointed  feeler  called  the  maxillary  palpus.  The 
maxillae  are  accessory  jaws  and  probably  serve  to  hold  and 
arrange  the  food  to  be  ground  by  the  true  jaws.  The 
floor  of  the  mouth  is  formed  by  the  labium;  to  each  half 
is  appended  a  three-jointed  palpus.  Within  the  mouth, 
situated  upon  the  labium,  is  the  ligula  or  tongue,  which  is 
large  and  membranous;  with  chitinous  spines  on  it  to 
hold  the  food.  The  tongue  extends  back  to  the  pharynx 
and  narrows  towards  the  back. 


6.  The  motor  organs  belong  to  the  thorax,  which  is  com- 
posed of  three  parts. 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          163 

The  prothorax  or  fore  part  of  the  chest  is  a  large  horny 
collar,  saddle-shaped,  which  carries  the  first  pair  of  legs. 

The  front  pair  being  shorter  than  the  others,  hinders 
him  in  walking  on  a  level  surface  but  helps  him  in  walking 
up  a  tree  or  small  plant  or  wall. 

The  in eso thorax  or  middle  part  carries  the  second  pair 
of  legs  and  fore  wings,  which  are  longer,  narrower,  and 
thicker  than  the  other  two. 

The  metathorax  or  hind  ring  of  the  chest  bears  the  hind 
wings  and  legs  which  are  twice  as  long  as  the  others.  The 
thigh  or  upper  part  is  very  long  and  strong.  By  means  of 
these  big  legs  the  grasshopper  is  a  famous  jumper.  The 
hind  wings  are  most  active  in  flight;  they  are  broad,  thin, 
and  membranous,  being  folded  up  like  a  fan  when  at  rest, 
and  tucked  away  out  of  sight  under  the  fore  wings,  which 
act  as  wing  covers. 


7.  The  wings  are  simple  expansions  of  the  skin,  or 
crust,  being  composed  of  two  delicate  films  of  the  epidermis, 
stretched   upon   a   network   of   tubes   or   trachae.     Where 
the  wings  join  the  grasshopper's  body  you  will  find  the 
drum-plate  used  in  stridulation.     The  wings  are  used  by 
muscles  inside  the  thorax. 

8.  The  six  legs  of  the  grasshopper,  like  those  of  all 
insects,  have  five  parts.     At  the  end  of  the  big  thigh  we 
find  the  two  strong  hooks,  coxa  and  trochanter.     This  is 
the  hip  to  which  the  leg  is  inserted.      The  thigh  is  the 
femur;    the  shank,   tibia;    and   tarsus  is  the  foot.     The 
tarsus  is  usually  sub-divided  into  five  joints  and  pair  of 
claws. 


164          Education  through  Nature 

You  cannot  feel  their  muscles,  for  their  skeletons  are 
on  the  outside  of  their  bodies,  and  like  coats  of  armor 
cover  all  their  muscles. 

In  locomotion  the  fore  legs  are  directed  forward  and 
the  two  hinder  pairs  backward.  In  motion  the  fore  and 
hind  feet  on  one  side,  and  the  middle  one  on  the  other, 
are  moved  simultaneously  and  then  the  remaining  three. 


Tarsus 
(Toot) 

The  grasshopper  pushes  against  the  support  on  whjVH  he 
is  resting  and  away  he  goes  just  as  you  think  you  have 
him.  He  is  not  easy  to  find  when  he  moves  away  from  you 
for  he  looks  so  much  like  his  surroundings. 

Q.  Protective  resemblances  are  strikingly  exemplified 
in  insect  life.  In  the  order  Orthopter-a  the  phenomena  are 
carried  to  an  extent  elsewhere  unsurpassed  in  the  animal 
kingdom.  Adaption  to  surroundings  is  noticed  in  insects 
by  which  a  species  is  rendered  practically  invisible  amongst 
its  surroundings  on  account  of  its  resemblance  to  a  leaf, 
stone,  twig,  etc.,  to  remain  immune  from  attack  from 
other  insects. 

10.  When  a  grasshopper  lives  on  a  dusty  road,  he  is 
dust-colored.  When  he  lives  on  a  speckled  rock  he  is 
black  or  gray,  and  when  he  lives  in  fields  he  is  green  or 
mottled  green  and  brown  like  the  grasses.  Some  are 
fine  fellows  with  soot-colored  wing  cases,  and  brilliant 
wings. 

The  color  of  the  grasshopper  does  not  seem  to  be  laid 
on  the  surface  of  his  coat,  as  that  of  the  beetle  or  scales 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          165 

of  a  butterfly,  but  is  dyed  through  and  through  the  wings 
and  the  body. 

11.  The  grasshoppers  are  a  very  timid  family,  and  are 
very  sensitive  to  sound.     The  organs  of  hearing  may  be 
situated  either  on  the  fore  legs,  as  in  the  green  grasshoppers, 
Katydids,  or  at  the  base  of  the  abdomen. 

12.  The  abdomen  contains  the  vegetative  organs.     It  is 
composed    of    chitin,    attached    to    the 

thorax.  It  has  ten  joints,  which  are 
more  or  less  movable,  and  sword-like 
blades  at  the  end  called  the  ovipositor. 

13.  The  grasshoppers  like  to  lay  their 
eggs  in  dry,  hot  places.     In  the  fall  you 
may  see  hundreds  of  them  in  dry  pas- 
tures or  along  the  roadside,  making  holes 
in  the  ground  to  put  their  eggs  in.     The 
female  grasshopper  has  four  sharp  points 
at  the  end  of  her  body.     She  puts  these 
together  to  make  one  point,  which  she 
thrusts  into  the  ground,  and  then  while 
it  is  in  the  ground  she  spreads  the  points 
and  pushes  the  earth  away;  then  again 
she  puts  the  points  together  and  thrusts 
the  one  point  further  down,  and  so  by 
pushing  the  point  down  and  opening  it 

over  and  over  again,  she   makes  a  hole          AK  ,*' 

i  i        i     j  11         i  Abdomen, 

nearly  as  large  as  her  body  and  lays  her 

eggs  in  a  case  made  of  something  like  glue.  Then  she  closes 
up  the  hole,  and  the  eggs  lie  all  winter  safe  in  the  ground. 
In  the  warm  spring  days  the  larvae  hatch  from  the  egg, 
and  creep  out  of  the  ground  and  begin  to  eat  the  first  green 
things  they  find. 

They  are  very  small  but  shaped  much  like  the  parent, 
only  they  have  no  wings.  They  molt  and  change  their  skin 
several  times.  At  first  the  little  ones  are  all  alike,  but 
after  several  changes  of  skin  the  larvae  become  pupae. 
New  coats  grow  on  them,  while  the  old  ones  get  too  small. 
The  old  one  splits  down  the  back,  and  the  young  grass- 
hopper steps  out  of  it.  He  may  have  five  new  coats  before 
he  is  a  grown  grasshopper.  The  first  and  second  new 
coats  have  no  wings  on,  the  third  you  can  see  the  coming 


166          Education  through  Nature 

wings  under  a  little  sheath.     The  fourth  has  small  wings; 
after  shedding  the  fifth  coat  he  looks  just  like  his  parents. 

About  six  or  eight  weeks  after  hatching  the  final  change 
is  made.  The  perfect  insect  comes  out  of  the  last  shed 
skin.  It  has  two  pairs  of  wings.  Insects  only  grow  during 
the  larval,  or  caterpillar,  state;  molting  is  confined  to 
that  period.  The  young  grasshopper  develops  from  the 
young  larvae  to  the  winged  adult  stage  without  changing 
its  mode  of  life.  When  larvae  and  pupae  they  are  very 
greedy;  they  eat  all  the  time.  When  they  are  grown 
they  do  not  give  all  their  time  to  eating. 

14.  The  digestive  apparatus  of  the  grasshopper  consists 
of  a  pharynx,  gullet,  gizzard,  stomach,  and  intestine.     The 
blood,  which  is  a  colorless  liquid,  circulates  on  the  dorsal 
side  of  the  body  in  a  long  pulsating  tube  beneath  the  skin. 
This  dorsal  vessel,  or  heart,  as  it  is  called,  is  open  at  both 
ends  and  divided  by  valves  into  compartments,  permitting 
the  blood  to  go  forward  but  not  backward. 

The  blood  enters  the  cavity  of  the  abdomen,  and  mingles 
with  the  chyle  which  transudes  through  the  walls  of  the 
alimentary  canal.  This  mixed  fluid  is  drawn  into  the 
dorsal  tube  through  the  valvular  openings  as  it  expands, 
and  upon  its  contraction  all  the  side-valves  are  closed 
and  the  fluid  is  forced  towards  the  head.  Passing  out 
at  the  front  opening  it  is  again  diffused  among  and  between 
the  tissues  of  the  body. 

The  brain  is  formed  of  several  ganglia  massed  together, 
and  lies  across  the  upper  side  of  the  throat,  just  behind 
the  mouth.  The  main  cord  lies  along  the  ventral  side  of  the 
body,  with  a  swelling  for  each  segment;  besides  this  there 
is  a  visceral  nerve  representing  in  function  the  sympathetic 
system  of  vertebrates. 

The  gizzard  is  lined  with  horny  teeth.  The  grasshopper 
has  no  true  liver,  but  its  functions  are  performed  by  little 
cell-masses  in  the  stomach.  The  kidneys  are  also  groups 
of  tubes. 

15.  Respiration  is  carried  on  by  trachae,   a  system  of 
tubes  opening  at  the  surface  by  a  row  of  apertures  called 
spiracles — generally  nine  on  each  side  of  the  thorax  and 
abdomen.     Respiration  is  performed  by  the  movements  of 
the   abdomen.    These   pipes   or   tubes   ramify   the   most 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          167 

delicate  organs.  To  keep  the  pipes  ever  open,  they 
are  provided  inside  with  an  elastic  spiral  thread,  like  the 
rubber  tube  of  a  drop-light.  It  also  has  air-sacs  in  the 
head. 

The  nerves  or  veins  of  a  grasshopper's  wing  consist 
of  a  tube  within  a  tube;  the  inner  one  is  a  trachae  carrying 
air;  the  outer  one  sheathing  it  is  a  blood-vessel.  So  per- 
fect is  the  aeration  of  the  whole  body,  from  brain  to  feet, 
that  its  blood  is  oxygenated  as  soon  as  it  is  carbonized. 
It  therefore  has  only  arterial  blood. 

This  is  the  life  of  the  happy  wayside  insect.  When 
the  glad  summer  of  his  life  is  done  he  dies.  He  does  not  live 
to  be  sick,  or  hungry,  or  cold;  he  is  the  happiest  of  living 
things.  He  does  nothing  but  dance  and  sing,  eat  fresh 
leaves,  and  drink  cool  dew,  from  early  spring  to  late  autumn, 
where  they  can  be  found  by  any  grassy  roadside. 


I  would  dwell  with  thee, 

Merry  grasshopper, 
Thou  art  so  glad  and  free, 
And  as  light  as  air; 
Thou  hast  no  sorrow  or  tears, 
Thou  hast  no  compt  of  years, 
No  withered  immortality, 
But  a  short  youth  sunny  and  free. 
Carol  clearly,  bound  along, 
Soon  thy  joy  is  over, 
A  summer  of  loud  song, 
And  slumbers  in  the  clover. 
What  hast  thou  to  do  with  evil 
In  thine  hour  of  love  and  revel, 
In  thy  heat  of  summer  pride, 
Pushing  thy  thick  roots  aside 
Of  the  singing  flowered  grasses, 
That  brush  thee  with  their  silken  tresses? 
What  hast  thou  to  do  with  evil, 
Shooting,  singing,  ever  springing, 
In  and  out  the  emerald  glooms. 
Ever  leaping,  ever  singing, 
Lighting  on  the  golden  blooms? 

— The  Grasshopper.  TENNYSON. 


168  Education  through  Nature 

I  love  to  hear  thine  earnest  voice, 

Wherever  thou  art  hid, 
Thou  testy  little  dogmatist, 

Thou  pretty  Katydid! 
Thou  mindest  me  of  gentle  folks, — 

Old  gentle  folks  are  they, — 
Thou  say'st  an  undisputed  thing 

In  such  a  solemn  way. 

Thou  art  a  female  Katydid! 

I  know  it  by  the  trill 
That  quivers  through  thy  piercing  notes 

So  petulant  and  shrill; 
I  think  there  is  a  knot  of  you 

Beneath  the  hollow  tree, — 
A  knot  of  spinster  Katydids, — 

Do  Katydids  drink  tea? 
— To  an  Insect,  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


The  poetry  of  earth  is  never  dead: 

When  all  the  birds  are  faint  with  the  hot  sun, 

And  hide  in  cooling  trees,  a  voice  will  run 

From  hedge  to  hedge  about  the  new  mown-mead ; 

That  is  the  grasshopper's — he  takes  the  lead 

In  summer  luxury — he  has  never  done 

With  his  delights ;  for,  when  tired  out  with  fun, 

He  rests  at  ease  beneath  some  pleasant  weed. 

The  poetry  of  earth  is  ceasing  never; 

On  a  lone  winter  evening,  when  the  frost 

Has  wrought  a  silence,  from  the  stove  there  shrills 

The  cricket's  song,  in  warmth  increasing  ever, 

And  seems  to  one  in  drowsiness  half  lost, 

The  grasshopper's  among  some  grassy  hills. 

— The  Grasshopper  and  the  Cricket,  JOHN  KEATS. 

XVI.  The   Sage-brush   Galls  and  Their  Inhabitants. 
By  V.  M.  G. 

Galls   are   abnormal   growths   caused   by  insects  upon 
the  parts  of  many  plants.     They  are  of  various  sizes  and 
shapes  and  furnish  a  home  and  sustenance  for  the  larva 
which   develops  within  them.     Some  one  has   said   that 
Lowell  must  have  thought  of  these  when  he  wrote: 
"  Never  a  blade  nor  a  leaf  too  mean 
To  be  some  happy  creature's  palace." 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          169 

Why  this  peculiar  growth  should  take  place  we  cannot 
say;  but  authorities  have  told  us  how  a  gall  is  formed. 
Comstock  says,  "The  female  gall-producing  insect  stings 
the  plant  and  lays  an  egg  in  the  wound.  It  is  believed 
that  in  some  cases  there  is  deposited  with  the  egg  a  drop 
of  a  poison  (as  in  the  gall,  which  we  shall  study  presently) 
which  causes  the  growth  of  the  gall.  But  in  other  cases 
the  gall  does  not  begin  to  develop  until  the  larva  hatches 
from  the  egg  and  begins  to  feed  upon  the  tissue  of  the  plant. 


FIG.  i. — Sage-brush  with  Gall. 


Evidently  if  there  is  a  poison  in  such  cases  it  must  be 
secreted  by  the  larva.  Though  the  explanation  .of  why  galls 
grow  is  not  clear,  we  know  this  much,  that  each  species  of 
gall-making  insect  makes  a  particular  kind  of  gall.  Hence, 
one  versed  in  this  subject  can  tell  by  the  form  and  structure 
of  a  gall  wrhat  species  of  insect  produced  it." 


170          Education  through  Nature 

The  gall  which  is  of  particular  interest  to  us  here  in 
Ellensburg  is  that  of  the  sage-brush.  These  sage  galls, 
green  globe-like  bodies,  vary  in  size  from  one-half  inch  to 
an  inch  in  diameter,  and  are  formed  from  the  tip  or  middle 
portions  of  the  leaves,  as  shown  in  drawing  on  the  first 
page.  The  growth  is  certainly  peculiar,  for  the  middle- 
lines  of  the  leaves  may  be  traced  through  the  galls.  I  have 
even  found  the  gall  closely  surrounded  by  a  group  of 
leaves  and  formed  from  a  part  of  each  leaf,  as  represented 
by  drawing,  Fig.  2. 

In  structure,  these  galls  are  fibrous  and  porous  within, 
covered  by  a  thick  skin  without,  the  latter  being  sur- 


FIG.  2. — Gall  Uniting  Several  Leaves. 

mounted  by  innumerable  grayish  hair-like  projections 
causing  a  fuzzy  appearance  of  the  galls.  Sometimes  the 
outer  surface  is  smooth  and  shiny.  I  have  noticed  that 
the  galls  with  such  a  surface  seem  to  be  the  oldest.  In  all 
probability  these  smooth  galls  were  once  pubescent,  like 
their  younger  sisters. 

In  the  very  heart  of  the  gall  there  starts  from  the  base  a 
conical  capsule,  varying  in  length  from  one-sixteenth  of 
an  inch  to  one-eighth  of  an  inch,  and  composed  of  a  thin 
green  skin  with  a  hard  crust -like  base  (Figs.  3  and  4). 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          171 

Within  this  lies  the  small  white  egg — never  more  than 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  long — which  the  insect  has  laid  in 
the  leaf  (Fig.  5).  Frequently  two  eggs  may  be  found  in 
one  gall,  but  from  observation  I  can  say  that  each  egg  has 
its  separate  capsule. 

Beginning  this  study  with  the  egg,  I  had  no  way  of  deter- 
mining the  length  of  time  between  the  deposit  of  the  egg 


FIG.  3.— Gall.       FIG.  4.— Capsule.    FIG.  5.—  Egg. 

and  its  metamorphosis  into  the  larva  stage.  As  a  usual 
thing  the  larva,  which  is  about  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in 
length  and  a  grayish-white  in  color,  eats  its  way  out  of  the 
gall  and  spends  some  time  in  feeding  upon  the  leaves  of 
the  sage-brush  (Fig.  6).  Upon  examining  the  bushes  dur- 


FIG.  6. — Larva  greatly  magnified;  this  line  ( — )  shows  natural  size. 

ing  the  months  of  May  and  June,  any  number  of  these  larvae 
may  be  seen  crawling  over  the  leaves  or  suspended  from 
them  by  silk  threads. 


172         Education  through  Nature 

After  a  time  the  larva  begins  to  spin  itself  into  a  cocoon, 
fastening  it  upon  the  under  surface  of  the  leaf.  I  placed 
several  of  the  larvae  in  a  covered  glass  dish  and  watched 
one  of  them  start  its  cocoon  on  one  side  of  the  dish.  It 


FIG.  7. — Weaving  Larva. 

worked  from  side  to  side,  weaving  the  net-work  in  front 
of  it  as  shown  in  Fig.  7. 

Upon  finishing  about  half  of  the  cocoon  it  broke  the 
thread,  and  turning  about,  backed  under  the  partially 
completed  mesh-work;  then,  drawing  its  head  up  and 
backwards,  resumed  its  spinning. 

Just  at  this  point  I  was  unfortunate  enough  to  knock 
the  dish  over  and  drop  the  larva  out.  Though  I  placed 
it  back  against  its  work  and  tried  coaxing  and  leaving  it 


FlG.  8.— The  Completed  Cocoon. 

.  ^ 

alone  by  turns  it  would  not  resume  its  spinning.  But 
on  the  next  day  I  found  the  same  larva  in  a  new  cocoon. 
On  the  contrary,  when  I  purposely  punctured  the  cocoon 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          173 

in  which  a  second  larva  was  still  weaving,  it  began  imme- 
diately to  mend  the  hole. 


FIG.  9. 


traL  Vte  w. 
FIG.  10. 


FIG.  ii. 


The  cocoon  when  completed  (Fig.  8)  is  about  one-quarter 
of  an  inch  long,  elliptical  in  form,  and  loose,  like  a  net-work, 


174  Education  through  Nature 

in  structure.  The  silky  material  (a  fluid  before  forced  out, 
becoming  thread-like  upon  exposure  to  air)  is  formed  in 
the  silk  glands,  tubes  lying  on  the  underside  of  the  body,  and 
opening  into  the  under  lip  by  a  common  duct,  the  little 


Imago. 

FIG.  12. 

projection  out  of  which  the  silk  comes  being  called  the 
spinneret.  These  facts  concerning  the  silk  glands  are 
from  statements  made  by  authorities  upon  the  subject  of 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          175 

larvae,  for  I  have  not  attempted  to  make  a  minute  study 
of  any  particular  part.  It  might  be  well  to  say,  just  here, 
that  this  paper  is  written  with  the  purpose  of  setting  forth 
the  results  of  my  general  observations  upon  this  subject. 

After  about  eight  days  the  sleeping  pupa  began  to  show 
signs  of  life,  drawing  up  its  body  if  touched;  its  color 
had  changed  from  white  to  brown;  and  metamorphosis 
had  advanced  to  the  stage  shown  in  Figs.  9,  10,  and  n. 

At  the  expiration  of  four  or  five  days  more  the  change 
was  complete,  and  the  imago  or  adult  came  forth.  It  is, 
on  the  average,  a  little  less  than  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in 
length,  and  gray  in  color  (Fig.  12). 

In  this  drawing  of  the  insect  the  following  characteristics 
can  be  seen: 

I.  The  head: 

1.  Antennae  or  feelers. 

2.  Pon-pon  or  tuft  (silvery  white  hairs). 

3.  Compound  eyes. 

4.  Mouth  parts. 
II.  The  thorax: 

1.  First  segment  or  pro  thorax. 

a.  First  pair  of  legs. 

2.  Second  segment  or  mesothorax. 

a.  Second  pair  of  middle  legs. 

b.  First  pair  of  wings  (gray  and  netted). 

3.  Third  segment  or  meta thorax. 

a.  Pair  of  hind  legs. 

b.  Second  pair  of  wings. 
III.  The  abdomen: 

a.  Ten  segments  covered  with  silvery  white 

scales. 

b.  Ovipositor. 

XVII.  The  Biology  of  the  Paramecium.    By  F.  T. 

(Outline  supplied  by  the  teacher.) 

1.  INTRODUCTION.    0,  Classification;  b,  habitat  in  nature; 
c,  how  cultivated,  etc. 

2.  MORPHOLOGY,    a,  Form,  size,  and  general  appearance; 
b,  appendages;  ct  organization,  etc. 


176          Education  through  Nature 

3.  PHYSIOLOGY,  a,  Movement,  reflex  action,  and  spon- 
taneity; b,  nutrition;  c,  digestion,  respiration,  and  circula- 
tion, etc.;  d}  reproduction,  conjugation,  and  division;  e, 
death. 


u/: 


FIG.  13. 

Viewed  from  the  ventral  side,  showing  the  anal  spot;  arrows 
inside  the  body  indicate  the  direction  of  protoplasmic  cur- 
rents, those  outside  the  direction  of  water  currents  caused  by 
the  cilia. 

w.,  water;  a.  n.,  anal  spot;  c.v.,  contractile  vacuoles;  f.  v., 
food-vacuoles,  m.,  mouth;  ce.,  oesophagus;  v  ,  vestibule;  mac., 
macron ucleus ;  mlc.,  micronudeus;  cu.,  cuticle;  cor.,  cortex; 
•vric.,  trichocysts;  c ,  cilia;  endo.,  endoplasm;  w.  v.,  water- 
tacuoles. 


Examples  of  Pupils*  Work          177 

i.  INTRODUCTION,  a.  Classification. — The  Paramecium 
or  slipper  animalculi  is  a  ciliated  infusoria  which  exhibits 
a  considerable  amount  of  differentiation  within  the  limits 
of  a  single  cell.  It  belongs  to  the  kingdom  of  protozoa, 
class  infusoria,  and  order  ciliata.  The  kingdom  of  protozoa 
represents  the  lowest  branch  of  animal  life.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  the  fact  that  after  fission  each  cell  becomes  a 
distinct  individual.  The  infusoria  is  the  most  highly 
specialized  of  all  protozoa  showing  a  differentiation  of 
protoplasm  unattained  by  any  other  member  of  this  group. 
The  Paramecium  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  common 
of  the  infusoria.  The  ciliata  are  characterized  by  the 
possession  of  hair-like  processes  called  cilia,  which  are 
present  during  young  and  adult  stages. 

b.  Habitat  in   nature. — The   Paramecium   is   found   in 
ponds  and  ditches  amongst  decomposing  vegetable  matter. 
It  is  also  found  in  multitudes  in  hay  infusion  or  water 
containing    decomposing    remains    of    Nitella    and    other 
water-plants.     It  is  found  in  both  fresh  and  salt  water. 

c.  How  cultivated. — Paramecium  may  be  cultivated  by 
filling  a  can  with  water;    then  place  a  small  handful  of 
pieces  of  hay  or  dead  moss  in  the  water  and  allow  it  to 
stand  in  a  warm  place  for  about  a  month.     After  a  few 
days  a  white  film  will  appear  upon  the  surface  of  the  water 
and  if  the  lower  edge  of  this  film  be  examined  where  it 
touches  the  can  great  numbers  of  rapidly  moving  white 
animals  may  be  seen.     Large  quantities  may  be  reared  by 
collecting   con  ferae    and  water-seeds   in   summer  weather, 
placing  them  in  a  jar  of  warm  water  covered  by  a  glass 
and  leaving  them  to  rot. 

2.  MORPHOLOGY,  a.  Form,  size,  and  general  appearance. 
— The  Paramecium  has  an  elongated,  somewhat  flattened, 
soft,  flexible,  transparent  body,  about  y^-g-  of  an  inch  in 
length,  with  a  rounded  anterior  end  and  somewhat  pointed 
posterior  end,  the  maximum  breadth  being  near  the  latter. 

When  viewed  from  above  and  below  it  is  oval  and  some- 
what slipper-shaped  in  side  view.  The  posterior  end  is 
bluntly  pointed  and  forms  the  toe  of  the  slipper,  while  the 
anterior  end  is  rounded  and  twisted  so  that  the  outline  of 
one  side  of  the  anterior  end  is  bent  into  a  shape  somewhat 
like  a  figure  eight.  As  this  side  is  generally  uppermost 


178         Education  through  Nature 

it  is  called  the  dorsal.  The  entire  surface  of  the  body  is 
covered  with  hairs  or  cilia,  which  are  in  constant  vibratory 
motion.  Along  the  edges  of  the  body  this  can  be  seen 
without  difficulty,  but  upon  the  surface  they  are  visible 
only  as  fine  dots.  The  cilia  are  of  two  kinds:  The  loco- 
motor  cilia,  which  are  quite  small  and  cover  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  body;  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  body 
there  is  a  small  tuft  of  much  larger  cilia.  Around  the  edges 
of  the  eight-shaped  outline  of  the  anterior  end  is  a  row  of 
much  larger  cilia.  These  give  rise  to  current  by  which 
floating  particles  of  food  are  carried  into  the  mouth  which 
is  situated  on  the  posterior  end  of  the  figure  eight. 

b.  Appendages. — The  appendages  of    the  body  are  of 
four  kinds  and  they  all  are  processes  of  the  cuticle,      (i) 
The    fine    cilia    which    serve    for    swimming.      (2)  The 
cirri.      They   are  placed   on   the   ventral   surface   of   the 
body  and  serve  for  locomotion  in  pediform  motion.     Hence 
called  legs.      The  cirri  are  the  stoutest  cilia.     (3)  Mem- 
branellae  which  are  short  flattened   cilia  which  when  end- 
ing in  a  point  are  hard  to  distinguish  from  cirri.     They 
create  the  whirlpools  by  which  the  food  is  brought  to 
the   mouth.      (.4)  Undulating   membranes   placed   in   the 
mouth  to  assist  in  taking  in  of  the  food. 

c.  Internal    organs    and   structure.  —  The    Paramecium 
is  a  mass  of  protoplasm  representing  a  single  cell.     The 
surface  of  the  body  is  covered  by  a  thin,  delicate,  trans- 
parent  cuticle  and  beneath   this  lies  the  cortex.     These 
two    constitute    the    ectoplasm.     The    cilia    are   processes 
of  the  cortex  which  protrude  through  holes  in  the  cuticle. 
A  great  number  of  radial  striations  in  the  cortex  mark 
minute  oval  sacs,  the  trichocysts,  from  which  long,  fine, 
stiff  filaments  are  shot  forth  and  project  beyond  the  cilia 
when  the  animal  is  irritated.     Their  function  is  that  of 
offence    and    protection.      The    Paramecium    possesses  a 
distinct  mouth  and  oesophagus  which  open  to  the  exterior 
through   an   oblique   funnel-shaped   depression   known  as 
the  vestibule  situated  at  one  side  of  the  body.     This  short 
ciliated  tube  leads  into  the  endoplasm.     Within  the  cortex 
is   the    endoplasm.     It  is  much  more   granular   than   the 
ectoplasm.  It  usually  contains  oil-globules,  colored  particles, 
and  various  foreign  bodies  which  are  not  found  in  the 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          179 

ectoplasm.  The  endoplasm  contains  structural  constituents 
of  the  cell-body,  such  as  the  trichocysts  and  the  macro 
and  micronucli,  which  lie  just  above  the  mouth.  The 
macronucleus  is  a  relatively  large  structure.  It  has  a 
definite  nuclear  membrane  which  appears  to  be  filled  with 
minutely  granular  contents.  The  micronucleus  is  a  small 
ovoid  body,  placed  alongside  of  and  close  to  the  macro- 
nucleus. 

Also  two  large  contractile  vacuoles  occupying  a  con- 
stant position  in  the  deeper  part  of  the  cortical  layer,  one 
near  either  end  of  the  body.  Each  contracts  alternately 
with  great  regularity  at  intervals  of  about  10-20  seconds. 
Just  before  contraction  the  vacuole  appears  as  a  large 
clear  space  in  the  ectoplasm ;  its  walls  come  together  and 
its  fluid  contents  are  expelled  to  the  exterior.  The  ensu- 
ing pause,  during  which  the  vacuole  is  refilled  with  fluid, 
is  known  as  diastole.  Immediately  after  the  contrac- 
tion a  number  of  fine  canals  make  their  appearance  in  the 
endoplasm,  radiating  from  the  spot  where  the  vacuole 
disappeared  by  closure.  These  canals  reach  for  some 
distance  into  the  surrounding  cell-body,  but  those  of  one 
vacuole  do  not  communicate  with  those  of  the  other.  The 
canals  become  swollen  with  fluid  at  their  inner  ends  and 
slowly  empty  their  contents  into  the  vacuole,  which  reap- 
pears, gradually  filling  with  the  fluid  poured  into  it  by 
the  different  canals  till  it  reaches  its  largest  dimensions, 
and  then  it  suddenly  contracts  again.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  diastole  the  different  canals,  having  emptied  their 
contents  into  the  vacuole,  become  altogether  indistinguish- 
able. 

The  substance  of  the  endoplasm  is  loaded  with  a  num- 
ber of  granules  and  particles,  the  products  of  assimilation 
and  metabolism.  The  most  noticeable  substances  in  the 
endoplasm  are  the  food  vacuoles  and  the  food  they  contain. 
Food  and  water  vacuoles  are  constantly  re-appearing 
and  disappearing.  The  endoplasm  is  the  seat  of  the 
digestive,  and  to  a  great  extent  of  the  anabolic,  activities  of 
the  animal. 

d.  Organization,  etc. — The  Paramecium  shows  polarity, 
that  is,  its  parts  are  grouped  symmetrically  with  respect 
to  an  organic  axis  passing  from  pole  to  pole.  Its  nucleus, 


180         Education  through  Nature 

contractile  vacuoles,  mouth,  and  oesophagus,  are  permanent, 
as  is  also  its  shape  and  form.  These  facts — that  it  has 
polarity  and  several  permanent  organs — show  that  the 
Paramecium  is  a  definite  organization. 

3.  PHYSIOLOGY,  a.  Movement,  reflex  action,  and  spon- 
taneity.— The  Paramecium  swims  about  continually  in 
the  water  by  means  of  its  cilia.  It  uses  these  as  a  boy 
uses  his  arms  in  swimming.  First,  they  are  struck  back- 
ward forcibly  and  quickly  and  then  they  are  brought  for- 
ward more  slowly.  It  always  moves  with  the  blunt  end, 
the  anterior,  foremost.  The  anterior  half  of  the  body  is 
slightly  twisted  in  connection  with  the  groove  leading 
into  the  mouth,  and  in  consequence  of  this  twist  the  animal 
spins  round  and  round  on  its  axis  as  it  swims  through 
the  water.  It  swims  in  a  tolerably  straight  course  with  uni- 
form velocity.  After  going  for  some  distance  in  one  direc- 
tion it  stops,  turns,  seems  to  hesitate  for  a  moment,  and 
then  darts  off  in  a  new  direction.  The  Paramecium  is 
flexible  and  elastic,  and  in  passing  round  an  obstacle  it 
bends  its  body  and  seems  to  squeeze  itself  through  an 
aperture  smaller  than  its  own  diameter.  When  it  pushes 
its  body  into  a  narrow  space  between  the  particles  of  sedi- 
ment in  the  water,  the  more  fluid  endoplasm  is  pushed 
back  by  the  obstruction  and  accumulates  at  the  posterior 
end  of  the  body,  while  the  ectoplasm  still  follows  the  out- 
line of  the  cuticle.  After  part  of  the  body  has  been  pushed 
past  the  obstruction,  the  endoplasm,  with  the  particles 
it  contains,  flows  rapidly  through  the  narrow  part  into 
the  enlargement  beyond.  The  Paramecium' s  movement 
is  spontaneous  and  is  not  caused  by  any  external  influence. 

b.  Nutrition. — The  Paramecium  feeds  only  on  organic 
substances.     It    feeds    chiefly    on    minute    infusoria    and 
flagellata,  which  are  swept  into  the  mouth  by  the  cilia  lining, 
the  peristominal  groove,  and  the  entrance  to  the  mouth 
itself,  and,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  cilia  in  these  regions 
direct  the  currents  toward  the  mouth  and  thus  bring  the 
food. 

c.  Digestion,    respiration,    and   circulation. — The    diges- 
tive organs  can  be  most  satisfactorily  studied  when  the 
animal  has  been  fed  with  some  colored  substance,  such  as 
indigo.    You  can  then  see  (a)  the  currents  which  are  caused 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          181 

by  the  small  locomotive  cilia,  (b)  The  peristome  or 
8-shaped  line  of  large  cilia  at  the  anterior  end  of  the  body, 
by  the  action  of  which  the  indigo  is  swept  in.  (c)  The 
vestibule,  a  widely  opened  funnel-shaped  chamber  lined 
with  cilia  and  situated  in  the  posterior  end.  (d)  The 
oesophagus,  a  ciliated  tube  which  leads  downward  and 
backward  into  the  substance  of  the  endoplasm.  In  this 
tube  the  particles  of  indigo  are  gradually  rolled  into  a 
pellet,  and  from  time  to  time  these  pellets  are  forced,  by 
contractions  of  the  body,  out  of  the  inner  end  of  the  tube 
into  the  endoplasm.  One  of  the  pellets,  together  with  a 
little  water  swallowed  with  it,  forms  a  food  vacuole,  of 
which  several  may  be  seen  in  different  parts  of  the  body. 
A  food  vacuole  is  a  spherical  space  filled  with  water  and 
containing  solid  particles  of  various  kinds.  As  the  vacuoles 
are  carried  around  the  body  by  the  circulation  of  the 
endoplasm,  the  water  and  the  soluble  parts  are  digested 
out,  until  at  last  only  the  indigestible  parts  remain  embedded 
in  the  body  substance  as  a  food-ball.  After  a  time  these 
particles  accumulate  at  a  point  upon  the  dorsal  surface 
about  half  way  between  the  vestibule  and  the  posterior 
end  of  the  body.  The  ectoplasm  becomes  thin  over  them, 
and  they  are  then  driven  out  of  the  body  through  a  tem- 
porary anus.  These  animals  have  no  sense  of  taste,  as 
indigestible  particles  are  readily  taken  in. 

Its  respiration  is  carried  on  through  the  external  surface 
of  the  body.  It  has  no  special  respiratory  organs,  but  it 
absorbs  food  and  air  from  the  currents  of  water  passing 
through  it  or  bathing  the  surface  of  its  body. 

The  circulation  of  the  food  is  carried  on  by  the  con- 
Tactile  vacuoles.  As  they  contract  they  force  the  food 
out  into  the  surrounding  mass. 

d.  Reproduction,  conjugation,  division,  etc. — Reproduc- 
tion in  the  Paramecium  is  a  simple  process  of  transverse 
binary  fission.  Both  macronucleus  and  micronucleus 
elongate  prior  to  the  division  of  the  cell-body  and  undergo 
mitosis.  They  first  become  fusiform,  and  at  either  pole 
of  the  spindle  plates  are  formed  connected  by  fibrils  running 
the  whole  length  of  the  spindle.  The  spindle,  then  elon- 
gated, becomes  dumb-bell  shaped,  and  the  two  swollen 
ends  are  connected  by  a  fine  thread,  which  soon  snaps  in 


i8a         Education  through  Nature 

the  middle,  and  thus  nuclear  division  is  complete.  Con- 
striction divides  the  cell-body  into  two  equal  parts,  which 
separate  and  form  two  new  Paramecia.  A  swarm  of 
Paramecia,  well  supplied  with  food,  will  continue  to  mutli- 
ply  by  binary  fission  for  many  generations. 

Prior  to  conjugation  the  individuals  move  hither  and 
thither  in  a  rapid  and  excited  manner,  as  if  in  search  of 
one  another.  After  a  while  they  come  together  in  couples 
and  conjugate.  Two  individuals  become  attached  to- 
gether mouth  to  mouth,  and  are  closely  united  by  fusion. 

Usually  the  process  of  conjugation  begins  during  the  late 
hours  of  night  and  the  early  hours  of  the  morning,  and 
lasts  till  late  in  the  following  afternoon.  The  first  conse- 
quence of  conjugation  is  that  the  micronucleus  of  each 
gamete  goes  through  a  stage  of  evolution,  which  doubles 
its  diameter.  It  also  undergoes  change  of  shape,  becoming 
first  elongated,  then  spindle  shape,  and  then  doubled  up 
to  form  a  crescent,  while  its  chromatin  granules  are  aggre- 
gated in  rows  to  form  longitudinal  fibrils.  But  it  eventually 
resumes  its  original  ovoid  condition.  This  structure,  in- 
creased as  it  is  to  twice  .its  former  diameter  and  eight  times 
its  original  volume,  passes  through  mitosis  and  divides 
into  two,  and  each  product  of  division  immediately  under- 
goes mitosis  and  again  divides,  so  that  there  are  now  four 
micronuclei.  Meanwhile  the  macronucleus  has  undergone 
no  change.  The  four  micronuclei  in  each  gamete  are  of 
equal  size,  and  all  of  these  begin  to  prepare  for  a  new 
division  by  elongating  to  form  fibrous  spindles;  but  only 
one — and  it  is  always  the  micronucleus  which  happens  to 
be  nearest  to  the  mouth — passes  through  the  further  stages 
of  mitosis  and  divides.  The  three  others  are  arrested  at 
the  spindle  stage,  and  then  degenerate  and  are  absorbed. 
The  surviving  micronucleus  in  each  gamete  completes 
its  division  so  that  each  gamete  has  two  micronuclei  and 
one  as  yet  unaltered  macronucleus.  In  each  gamete  one 
of  the  micronuclei  is  placed  close  against  the  mouth,  called 
the  female  and  male  pronuclei.  Both  elongate  and  form 
fibrillated  spindles,  and  then  the  transference  of  micro- 
nuclear  material.  The  transference  of  nuclear  material 
has  now  been  effected,  and  the  gametes,  which  have  dimin- 
ished in  size,  shortly  afterwards  separate  from  one  another, 


Examples  of  Pupils'  Work          183 

begin  to  feed,  and  recover  their  original  dimensions.  Each 
possesses  the  original  unaltered  macronucleus  and  a  large 
micronucleus  called  the  combination  nucleus.  Immediately 
after  separation  the  original  macronucleus  undergoes 
changes  which  lead  to  its  final  disappearance. 

Meanwhile  the  combination  nucleus  in  each  ex-gamete 
undergoes  three  successive  mitotic  divisions,  and  there  are 
eight  products  in  the  combination  nucleus,  arranged  in 
two  groups  of  four,  one  group  at  the  anterior  end  and 
another  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  body.  Of  the  posterior 
group  three  members  disappear,  one  surviving  as  micro- 
nucleus.  The  four  nucH  of  the  anterior  group  increase 
in  size  and  become  the  macronuclei  of  the  progeny  of  the 
ex-gamete.  Twenty-four  to  thirty  hours  after  separation 
the  ex-gamete  divides  in  such  a  manner  that  two  of  the 
macronuclei  pass  into  one  product  of  division  and  two 
into  the  other,  while  the  micronucleus  divides  mitotically, 
one  of  its  products  entering  each  of  the  two  daughter 
Paramecia.  A  second  division  quickly  follows,  accom- 
panied by  the  mitotic  division  of  the  micronucleus,  while 
the  macronuclei  are  again  passively  distributed  among  the 
products  of  division.  The  result  is  that  each  ex-gamete 
has  produced  four  normal  Paramecia  containing  each  a 
macronucleus  and  a  single  micronucleus,  both  derived 
from  the  combination  nucleus.  These  Paramecia  feed 
and  multiply  by  transverse  division  at  the  rate  of  two  or 
three  divisions  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 

e.  Death. — After  four  or  five  days  the  offspring  of  a 
Paramecium,  some  four  thousand  in  number,  become 
smaller  and  begin  to  show  signs  of  decay.  Eventually, 
if  they  are  unable  to  conjugate,  they  undergo  degeneration 
and  die.  Similarly,  if  the  food  supply  runs  short,  the 
members  of  a  swarm  of  Paramecia  become  weak  and 
diminished  in  size,  but  under  normal  circumstances  the 
onset  of  degeneration  is  arrested  by  conjugation.  Decay 
and  death  are  the  natural  accompaniments  of  existence. 
The  Paramecium  may  also  be  killed  by  bacteria  and  the 
application  of  chemicals. 


11 

Xffe:  Hts  forms  an&  Uts  flDanifestatfons 


,,9Bir  Ijaben  gefetjen,  baft  afle  Drgcmtemen  auS  iDefentttdj 
gletcfjett  Jljetlen,  namltd)  ait«  3e^en  5ufatnmenge[e^t  finb, 
baB  biefe  3^Men  nad^  tDcfentttc^  benfelben  ©efe^en  fic^  bttben 
unb  ttacfyfen,  ba^  atfo  biefe  $ro}effe  liberal!  aud)  burcf)  bte* 
jetben  $riifte  Ijert)orgebrac^t  tDerben  muffen," — SCHWANN. 


CHAPTER   I 
Life  of  Plants  and  Animals 

I.  Introductory. 

In  this  division  is  given  an  account  of  the  more 
fundamental  facts  of  plant  and  animal  life  having 
relation  to  the  subject  of  nature  study,  but  too  difficult 
for  individual  discovery  from  the  object  by  the  ordinary 
pupil  in  the  grades;  also  a  classification  of  the  more 
common  forms  of  life  which  will  be  likely  to  be  used 
by  the  teacher  in  nature  study.  The  principal  theo- 
ries in  regard  to  organic  development  are  also  briefly 
stated,  together  with  theories  and  standpoints  regard- 
ing human  development  and  their  relation  to  the  peda- 
gogy of  nature  study.  It  is  thought  that  the  teacher 
who  is  able  to  take  an  interest  in  these  more  difficult 
phases  of  her  work  will  be  able  to  get  more  out  of 
nature  study  than  she  otherwise  would. 

n.  Microscopic  Organisms. 

ALGI. — In  quiet  pools  of  water  along  the  banks  of 
running  streams  or  in  tanks  of  fresh  water,  and  in 
ditches  along  the  roadside,  there  is  often  found  during 
the  summer  months  a  green  scum  floating  near  the 
surface  of  the  water.  It  has  a  slimy  appearance  and 
is  therefore  called  pond-scum.  It  is  a  comparatively 
simple  green  plant,  consisting  of  an  interwoven  net- 
work of  threads,  which,  under  the  microscope,  show  a 
spiral  arrangement  of  the  green  coloring-matter  or 
chlorophyl,  and  is  therefore  called  spirogyra. 

187 


1 88  Education  through  Nature 

This  plant  belongs  to  a  group  of  simple  plants 
called  Algae.  There  are  numerous  kinds  of  algi  living 
both  in  salt  water  and  in  fresh  water.  The  salt-water 
forms  are  often  very  beautiful  and  are  called  sea- 
weeds. They  have  various  colors,  but  blue,  brown, 
and  red  are  the  prevailing  forms,  and  hence  algi  are 
classed  as  brown,  blue,  red,  and  green  algi.  The 
coloring-matter  enables  them  to  live  like  ordinary 
green  plants,  manufacturing  their  own  food  from 
the  inorganic  elements  of  the  water  by  the  aid  of 
sunlight. 

The  algi  are  related  to  another  group  of  simple 
plants  called  fungi.  These  are  such  plants  as  molds, 
seen  on  bread,  preserved  fruits,  leather,  horn,  and 
other  decaying  organic  substances,  and  plants  like 
the  toadstools,  mushrooms,  and  puffballs,  often  found 
growing  on  decaying  bark  or  springing  from  com- 
post heaps.  Mildews,  rusts,  and  smuts,  also  growing 
on  leaves  of  plants  or  the  ripening  fruit  of  grains 
and  grasses,  belong  to  the  fungi. 

FUNGI. — These  fungi  differ  from  the  algi  chiefly 
in  being  devoid  of  chlorophyl  or  coloring-matter. 
They  are  consequently  unable  to  live  like  ordinary 
plants,  and  must  obtain  their  food  already  prepared 
as  organic  substances  from  other  plants  or  animals, 
and  are  consequently  called  parasites  or  saprophytes, 
according  as  they  attack  living  or  dead  forms  of  plants 
or  animals.  Some  of  these  are  useful  to  man  as  food; 
but  the  majority  of  them  are  harmful,  inasmuch  as 
they  often  injure  the  organisms  on  which  they  live. 
Rusts  and  smuts  are  parasites  that  are  injurious  to 
cultivated  plants  such  as  wheat,  oats,  and  corn. 

Both  the  algi  and  the  fungi  contain  many  micro- 
scopic forms  that  can  be  studied  only  by  means  of 
the  compound  microscope.  Many  of  them,  however, 
are  easily  found,  and  can  be  readily  studied  by  the 
aid  of  a  hand-lens  or  even  with  the  unaided  eye.  The 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          189 

fungi  are  supposed  to  be  degraded  forms  of  algi, 
which,  having  become  parasitic,  have  lost  their  chloro- 
phyl,  and  consequently  are  dependent  upon  other 
forms  of  life  for  their  maintenance.  Fungi  like  the 
molds  can  be  obtained  at  any  time  by  putting  a  piece 
of  bread  in  a  moist  chamber  (a  covered  bowl  or  tin 
pan  will  do)  and  allowing  it  to  stand  for  a  few  days 
in  this  moist  condition.  Little  powdery  bodies  called 
spores,  produced  by  these  fungi  when  mature,  float 
around  in  the  air,  and,  settling  on  any  moist  organic 
substance,  like  moistened  bread,  begin  to  absorb 
nourishment  from  the  bread,  and  soon  grow  into  a 
silky  fibrous  mass  called  mycelium,  each  fiber  being 
called  a  hypha. 

In  the  case  of  rusts  and  smuts  growing  as  sapro- 
phytes on  living  plants  or  insects,  the  mycelium,  as 
it  elongates  from  the  spores,  grows  into  the  tissues 
of  the  host  (the  organism  on  which  a  parasite  lives), 
and,  penetrating  the  tissues,  absorbs  its  nourishment 
by  their  aid.  When  mature,  they  send  up  little  stalks 
which  enlarge  into  a  ball.  It  is  in  this  ball  or  spore- 
case  that  the  reproductive  bodies  or  spores  are  pro- 
duc^d.  The  spore-case  dries  when  mature  and  splits 
open,  allowing  the  spore  to  escape.  These,  then,  are 
carried  by  the  wind  to  other  plants  and  give  rise  to 
new  fungi  of  the  same  kind. 

The  effects  of  these  fungi  can  be  seen  by  examining 
the  black  wheat  heads  that  are  more  or  less  abundant 
in  wheat-fields  while  the  crop  is  maturing. 

LICHENS. — These  interesting  plants  are  found  grow- 
ing on  rocks,  bark,  fence-rails,  etc.  They  often  occur 
in  great  quantities  on  old  trees,  especially  in  moist 
climates.  They  are  either  yellow  and  hair-like,  or 
else  gray,  scaly  looking  bodies  suspended  from  limbs 
or  closely  clinging  with  their  fiat  surfaces  to  rocks. 

These  plants  are  especially  interesting,  because  they 
are  supposed  to  consist  of  both  algi  and  fungi,  inti- 


190  Education  through  Nature 

mately  associated  for  mutual  aid  and  protection. 
The  small  algi  inside  are  supposed  to  manufacture 
food  for  the  fungus  outside,  and  this  latter  serves  as 
protection  for  the  algi.  Hence  this  is  an  interesting 
case  of  different  organisms  associated  together,  like 
slave  and  master,  for  mutual  benefits.  Such  a  rela- 
tion is  called  symbiosis,  and  the  parties  to  the  associa- 
tion are  called  symbionts. 

BACTERIA. — If  a  handful  of  pond-scum  or  a  handful 
of  hay  be  put  into  a  jar  of  fresh  water  and  allowed  to 
stand  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  the  water  turns  black 
and  emits  a  foul  odor,  due  to  the  decaying  organic 
substances  in  the  water.  There  will  then  gradually 
appear  on  the  surface  of  the  water  a  thin  film  which 
gradually  thickens  into  a  crust  floating  on  the  surface. 

If  this  surface  film  be  examined  under  the  micro- 
scope, it  will  be  found  to  consist  of  innumerable  tiny 
bodies  moving,  whirling,  wriggling  rapidly  through 
the  water.  To  see  the  individual  bodies  well  requires 
the  highest  magnifying  powers  of  the  microscope. 
They  are  the  so-called  micro-organisms,  germs  or 
bacteria. 

These  micro-organisms  are  very  important  ones, 
notwithstanding  their  minuteness;  for  many  of  them 
are  very  useful  (nonpathogenic)  while  many  are 
very  harmful  inasmuch  as  they  are  the  cause  of  many 
contagious  diseases  (pathogenic),  such  as  scarlet 
fever,  cholera,  yellow  fever,  diphtheria,  lockjaw, 
and  anthrax,  etc.  They  seem  to  be  closely  related 
to  yeast,  the  organism  used  for  raising  bread  and  in 
the  fermentation  of  liquors.  It  is  not  definitely 
known  how  yeast  does  its  work  as  a  ferment — whether 
it  be  by  means  of  its  secretions  acting  when  it  is  present 
or  whether  it  be  by  taking  substances  such  as  the 
starch  of  the  grains  used  for  such  purposes  into  its 
body  and  there  in  a  sense  digesting  it,  giving  off  as  a 
result  of  disorganization  a  gas,  carbon  dioxide,  and 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          191 

the  active  principle  alcohol.  The  bubbles  rising 
from  fermenting  substances  are  due  to  this  gas  CO2. 
In  the  case  of  bread-making  the  gas  is  imprisoned  in 
the  sticky  dough  and  consequently  causes  the  spongy 
consistency  of  wheat  bread. 

Effects  somewhat  similar  to  fermentation  are  doubt- 
less present  in  the  jar  containing  the  hay  or  the  green 
algi.  The  bacteria  attack  the  organic  substances, 
causing  their  disorganization  resulting  in  the  emission 
of  gas  which,  discolorizing  the  water,  escapes  as  foul 
odor.  This  decay  or  putrefaction  is,  therefore, 
due  to  bacteria.  When  such  disorganization  is  pro- 
duced in  living  things,  disease  and  death  result;  and 
the  bacteria  which  attack  living  things  in  this  way,  caus- 
ing disease  and  death,  are  called  pathogenic  bacteria. 
Some  minute  rod-like  forms,  called  bacilli,  are  the 
cause  of  that  dreaded  disease  consumption.  The 
germs  of  this  disease  are  present  in  the  air;  and, 
when  taken  into  the  body,  they  develop  in  those  organs 
that  are  especially  weak  and  consequently  unable  to 
resist  their  action.  Almost  any  organ  may  thus, 
when  weakened,  become  the  seat  of  this  deadly  dis- 
ease. But  the  lungs  are  most  frequently  affected,  in 
which  case  pulmonary  tuberculosis  results. 

Another  rod-like  form,  the  bacillus  of  typhoid 
fever,  is  found  in  wells  and  drinking  water  that  has 
been  contaminated  with  organic  filth.  The  disease 
attacks  the  alimentary  canal  and  is  often  fatal,  giving 
rise  to  severe  and  prolonged  fevers,  doubtless  due  to 
toxic  or  poisonous  substances  secreted  by  the  germs. 

Other  forms  of  bacteria  (nonpathogenic)  are  useful 
in  promoting  digestion  of  food  in  the  alimentary 
canal,  in  giving  flavors  to  articles  of  diet  as  butter 
and  cheese,  etc.  Many  forms  are  associated  with 
the  roots  of  higher  plants  in  the  soil,  as  in  red  clover, 
giving  to  the  plant  the  disintegrated  substances, 
among  them  nitrogen,  resulting  from  its  activity. 


192  Education  through  Nature 

One  advantage  of  personal  cleanliness  is  the  lessen- 
ing of  the  risk  of  infection  and  contamination  from 
such  injurious  microbes.  Sterilization,  too,  by  heat 
or  boiling  water  and  disinfectants  are  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  disease  germs  or  ferments.  The  princi- 
ple of  preserving  fruits,  after  boiling  and  scalding 
fruit  jars,  is  based  on  the  destruction  of  these  germs 
by  high  temperature,  and  the  prevention  of  the  entrance 
of  new  ones.  Antiseptic  surgery,  too,  is  based  on 
this  same  principle. 

The  bacteria  contained  in  the  film  on  the  jar  of 
water,  after  a  period  of  activity,  finally  come  to  rest, 
and  secreting  a  gelatinous  substance  are  held  together 
in  solid  masses,  thus  giving  rise  to  the  surface  film. 
These  forms  are  harmless.  Many  of  them  require 
oxygen  and  hence  develop  most  freely  near  the  sur- 
face. Others  do  not  need  oxygen  and  still  others  are 
destroyed  by  plenty  of  sunshine  and  fresh  air.  They 
ultimately  disappear  from  the  jar  when  the  organic 
substances  are  used  up.  The  water  will  remain  pure 
if  the  jar  be  exposed  to  the  sunlight,  the  activity  of 
the  algi  keeping  the  water  pure. 

Distinction  between  Plants  and  Animals. 

An  examination  of  the  jar  containing  algi,  as  above, 
after  the  water  has  turned  foul,  will  reveal  a  white 
line,  of  what  at  first  looks  like  sediment,  on  the  sides 
of  the  jar  just  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  where 
the  latter  meets  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  If  the  jar  be 
placed  in  the  sun,  the  naked  eye  can  detect  millions  of 
rapidly  moving  bodies,  which,  when  examined  with 
a  high  power  of  the  microscope,  look  like  little  slipper- 
shaped  fishes  swimming  about  very  rapidly.  These 
are  infusoria,  a  form  called  paramecium.  They  are 
good  examples  of  microscopic  animals  called  protozoa — 
so  called  because  they  correspond  to  what  is  called  a 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          193 

cell.  Bacteria  are  also  representatives  of  these  uni- 
cellular organisms,  but  they  are  usually  regarded  as 
plants. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  decide  in  the  case  of 
these  microscopic  organisms  as  to  whether  they  are 
plants  or  animals.  Many  forms  have  been  repeatedly 
transferred  from  one  kingdom  to  the  other,  the  vital 
processes  in  plants  and  animals  being  so  similar  as 
to  make  a  clear  distinction  impossible.  These  diffi- 
culties disappear  as  we  ascend  in  the  plant  and  animal 
series,  the  plants  being  defined  as  those  organisms 
having  an  outer  covering  of  cellulose,  and  possessing 
the  power  of  manufacturing  organic  compounds  by 
means  of  the  sunlight;  while  animals,  with  few  excep- 
tions, are  devoid  of  cellulose,  and  the  coloring  matter 
necessary  to  utilize  the  energy  of  the  sun's  rays.  Hence 
animals  are  dependent  upon  plants  for  their  food. 

THE  CELL. — Amoebae,  paramecia,  bacteria,  etc., 
are  only  a  few  representatives  of  the  countless  myriads 
of  living  things  which  the  unaided  eye  is  unable  to 
detect.  It  is  only  after  the  invention  of  the  microscope 
that  we  have  become  aware  of  these  organisms  of  the 
microscopic  world.  Nevertheless,  they  are  interest- 
ing to  us  because  they  are  among  the  very  lowest 
forms  of  life,  and  represent  the  primitive  living  sub- 
stance of  which  our  own  bodies  consist.  In  fact, 
our  bodies  are  built  up  from  such  microscopic  cells, 
and  it  is  in  such  a  minute  cell  that  our  bodies  have 
their  origin.  Nothing  can  be  more  important,  there- 
fore, for  the  understanding  of  the  higher  plant  and 
animal  life,  including  our  own,  than  the  lesson  which 
these  minute  organisms  teach  us. 

It  would,  indeed,  be  a  very  discouraging  matter  if 
it  were  necessary  for  us  to  become  acquainted  with  all 
these  microscopic  forms  before  we  could  comprehend 
the  vital  processes  and  the  laws  of  life  of  higher  forms. 
Fortunately  the  life  phenomena  in  these  forms  are 


194  Education  through  Nature 

reduced  to  their  simplest  manifestation;  and  it  is  easily 
discovered  that  the  life  phenomena  are  very  much  the 
same  in  all  of  them.  Consequently  if  we  understand 
the  life  processes  in  one  form,  as  for  instance,  the 
amoeba  or  paramecium,  we  shall  understand  fairly 
well  the  life  of  all;  and  understanding  the  life  of  a 
cell,  we  shall  so  much  the  better  understand  the  life 
of  a  complex  body  like  our  own,  which  is  practically 
an  aggregation  of  cells,  very  much  as  we  understand 
society  better  if  we  know  something  about  those  sci- 
ences dealing  with  the  life  of  the  individual. 

The  cell  is  the  unit  of  structure  of  the  complex 
body  just  as  the  individual  is  the  unit  of  the  social 
body.  If,  therefore,  we  could  discover  how  the 
various  cells  of  a  complex  body,  like  our  own,  come 
to  differ  from  one  another  and  how  they  become  aggre- 
gated into  organs  and  associated  with  each  other  for 
the  performance  of  special  duties,  we  should  be  better 
able  to  understand  how  higher  organisms  come  to 
differ  and  how  even  human  beings  are  impressed 
with  their  own  specific  characters  and  their  own  individ- 
ualities. So  important  is  the  life  of  the  cell,  therefore, 
that  in  recent  years  a  new  science  of  Cytology  has 
been  created,  claiming  the  exclusive  attention  of  the 
ablest  investigators.  While  the  subject  is  too  diffi- 
cult for  nature  study  in  the  grades,  yet  the  teacher 
should  endeavor  to  know  something  about  cell  life, 
as  without  such  knowledge  even  nature  study  must 
be  very  much  like  the  blind  leading  the  blind.  That 
even  inexperienced  pupils  can  do  considerable  here, 
when  properly  directed,  can  be  seen  from  the  pupil's 
paper  on  the  paramecium  at  the  end  of  Part  I.  That 
paper  was  prepared  by  a  pupil  in  the  fourth  year  of 
the  Normal  School  with  no  previous  training  in  this 
kind  of  work. 

Viewed  under  the  microscope,  an  amoeba,  or  the 
paramecium  which  we  have  been  considering  in  the 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          195 

jar  of  water,  has  a  transparent  appearance;  the  amoeba 
has  a  constantly  changing  form,  the  paramecium  a 
permanent  slipper-like  form.  This  transparent  gelati- 
inous  mass  constituting  the  body  of  the  cell  is  called 
protoplasm,  which  has  again  been  defined  by  Huxley 
as  the  Physical  Basis  of  Life.  It  is  the  substance 
with  which  life  and  mind  are  associated,  and  without 
which  no  life  is  supposed  to  exist.  With  substance 
in  this  connection,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  not  a 
simple  chemical  mixture  (some  physiologists  insist 
that  it  is  a  chemical  mixture)  perhaps,  but  rather  a 
highly  complex  organized  body  consisting  of  various 
substances  blended  and  mixed,  and  held  in  a  perma- 
nent interrelation  to  one  another  while  constantly 
undergoing  change.  There  is  no  known  chemical 
formula  that  can  express  the  structure  of  protoplasm. 
Neither  is  the  chemical  composition  of  living  proto- 
plasm known;  for  life  ceases  as  soon  as  a  chemical 
analysis  is  made;  and  the  change  from  living  to  dead 
protoplasm  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  also  most 
permanent  changes  in  nature.  For,  while  the  change 
from  life  to  death  is  easily  brought  about,  no  case  of 
a  transition  from  death  to  life  is  known  to  science. 
In  other  words,  these  microscopic  organisms  in  the 
jar  do  not  originate  from  dead  substance,  out  of  noth- 
ing, nor  spontaneously,  but  the  vast  multitude  are 
the  offspring  of  one  or  more  parent  organisms  like 
themselves.  Thus  the  bacteria  originate  from  bacteria 
and  paramecia  from  paramecia.  The  substance  of 
both  is  protoplasm,  which  is  so  much  alike  in  both 
that  we  are  unable  to  discover  any  profound  differ- 
ence even  with  the  most  powerful  microscopes.  That 
the  paramecia  and  bacteria,  for  instance,  are  so  dif- 
ferent not  only  in  their  size  and  form,  but  also  in  their 
effects  on  other  organisms,  is  supposed,  by  some,  to 
be  due  to  a  specific  structure  of  the  protoplasm,  while 
some  radical  physiologists  insist  that  the  difference 


196  Education  through  Nature 

is   due   to   specific   chemical  substances   in   the   two 
cases. 

Structure  of  the  Cell. 

In  the  amoeba  there  is  scarcely  any  visible  evidence 
of  structure,  even  under  the  highest  power  of  the 
microscope;  the  form  is  constantly  changing;  there 
seems  to  be  no  bilateral  symmetry  or  fore  or  aft  polar- 
ity; and  even  the  protoplasm  itself  is  constantly 
flowing  like  a  turbid  stream  of  liquid  substance.  In 
the  paramecium,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  both  per- 
manent form,  fore  and  aft  polarity,  and  bilateral 
symmetry.  Here,  too,  the  protoplasm  shows  a  stream- 
ing motion.  By  staining  these  organisms  with  various 
dyes,  an  internal  spherical  body  called  the  nucleus 
is  revealed,  showing  that,  notwithstanding  the  appar- 
ent homogeneity,  there  are  specialized  areas  within 
this  protoplasm,  suggesting  organs,  and  hence  a 
heterogeneity  of  composition,  at  the  basis  of  which 
some  primitive  structure  must  exist.  In  many  cells 
another  modified  area,  having  still  more  the  character- 
istics of  structure,  has  been  found;  and,  for  that  rea- 
son, it  is  now  one  of  the  most  interesting  little  bodies 
in  nature.  It  is  called  the  centrosome.  Under  the 
highest  power  of  the  microscope  it  looks  like  the  dot 
of  the  letter  i,  yet  in  this  little  dot  is  centered  one  of 
the  profoundest  issues  with  which  biologists  have  to 
deal.  The  issue  is  none  less  than  that  of  form  'versus 
substance,  heredity  versus  variation.  A  valuable 
book  on  this  subject  is  one  by  E.  B.  Wilson  entitled 
"  The  Cell  in  Heredity  and  Development."  Those 
who  are  interested  in  these  profound  biological  prob- 
lems will  find  that  work  very  helpful.  The  subject 
cannot  be  treated  in  a  work  of  this  kind. 

Life  Phenomena  of  Cells. 

Nothing  is  more  evident,  from  the  examination  of 
the   micro-organisms   in   our  jar  of   stagnant   water, 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          197 

than  that  these  single  cells  are  capable  of  leading  an 
independent  existence,  of  moving,  assimilating,  grow- 
ing, responding  to  stimuli,  and  multiplying  by  division. 
They  apparently  select  their  own  food,  seem  to  avoid 
danger,  recognize  their  own  kind,  and  enjoy  the  power 
of  spontaneous  action.  Without  any  evident  external 
cause  they  are  able  to  arrest  motion,  to  start  again, 
to  turn  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  or  to  wheel  com- 
pletely about,  retracing  their  steps.  No  one  observing 
the  actions  of  one  of  these  organisms  could  fail  to 
be  impressed  with  its  apparent  intelligence.  In  fact, 
this  protoplasm  moves  without  muscles,  feeds  without 
a  mouth  or  a  stomach,  and,  shall  we  say,  perceives, 
thinks,  wills,  and  knows  without  sense-organs  or 
without  brains.  Inasmuch  as  these  various  functions 
have  no  corresponding  organ,  we  must  conclude  that 
they  are  various  forms  of  protoplasmic  activity. 

All  these  forms  of  protoplasmic  activity  are  the 
result  of  dissociation  of  complex  organic  molecules, 
a  breaking-up  of  complex  substances  into  more  stable 
inorganic  compounds,  by  which  the  necessary  energy 
is  liberated.  Such  waste  of  energy  must  be  made  good 
by  the  taking  in  of  food,  for  even  protoplasm  cannot 
create  energy.  When  the  food  supply  is  exhausted, 
therefore,  when  the  algi  put  into  the  jar  have  been 
disorganized  and  their  substance  used  up  by  the 
microbes,  these  necessarily  die  from  starvation,  and 
the  water,  which  at  first  became  foul  and  turbid,  gradu- 
ally becomes  clear,  the  organisms  having  themselves 
been  disorganized  into  a  sediment  of  dead  matter. 
If  more  food  is  supplied  the  organisms  continue  to 
live  and  multiply  indefinitely.  The  waste  resulting 
from  metabolism  of  the  protoplasm  is  excreted  by 
the  cell  through  the  outer  cuticle,  and  oxygen,  the  imme- 
diate cause  of  this  metabolism,  is  taken  in  in  the  same 
way  from  the  surrounding  medium.  Hence  these  or- 


198  Education  through  Nature 

ganisms  remain  near  the  surface,  where  the  air  comes 
in  contact  with  the  water. 

But,  even  in  the  presence  of  a  constant  supply  of 
food  and  oxygen,  by  which  the  wasted  elements  are 
again  repaired  by  nutrition,  assimilation,  respiration, 
and  excretion,  this  constant  activity  cannot  continue 
indefinitely.  The  mere  lapse  of  time  seems  to  have 
a  specific  effect  on  protoplasm,  causing  it  to  grow  old 
and  incapable  of  maintaining  an  equilibrium  between 
waste  and  repair.  In  the  case  of  many  of  these  uni- 
cellular forms  this  inevitable  senility  is  partly  over- 
come by  conjugation,  the  interchange  of  nuclear  mate- 
rial of  two  distinct  individuals.  They  are  consequently 
rejuvenated  periodically.  They  are  thus  again  capable 
of  multiplying  by  division,  and  are  supposed  to  be  in 
a  sense  immortal. 

Even  in  these  unicellular  forms,  therefore,  we  per- 
ceive that  each  individual  has  two  very  important 
functions  to  perform — that  of  maintaining  itself  and 
that  of  maintaining  the  race  of  beings  to  which  it 
belongs.  It  is  neither  wholly  selfish  nor  wholly  altru- 
istic, but  a  little  of  both.  All  of  their  activities  seem 
to  have  in  view  these  functions,  and  the  success  with 
which  the  work  is  performed  seems  to  depend  on  the 
success  with  which  an  internal  adjustment  is  main- 
tained with  reference  to  the  surrounding  medium. 

Being  as  yet  wholly  ignorant  in  regard  to  the  essen- 
tial nature  of  both  life  and  mind  it  would  of  course 
be  absurd  to  try  either  to  prove  or  to  disprove  their 
universal  coexistence.  Yet  it  is  clear  here  that  what 
we  interpret  as  life  and  what  appears  to  us  as  mental 
manifestations  are  so  intimately  united  that  a  distinc- 
tion between  them  is  impossible.  Both  the  vital 
and  the  mental  processes,  if  such  there  be,  are  con- 
cerned with  such  an  adjustment  of  the  organism  to 
external  condition  as  shall  enable  the  organism  to 
exist. 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          199 

One  ignorant  of  the  power  of  the  horseshoe  magnet, 
on  seeing  a  needle  moving  over  a  sheet  of  paper,  in 
obedience  to  the  magnet  beneath,  would  be  strongly 
tempted  to  ascribe  to  the  needle  both  life  and  mind. 
Similarly,  in  the  case  of  these  microscopic  organisms, 
the  life  and  the  apparent  mind  may  be  due  to  con- 
cealed molecular  forces. 

There  is  probably  no  molecule  of  matter  which  is 
entirely  isolated  from  all  else.  Everything  is  sub- 
ject to  the  universal  law  of  action  and  reaction.  Count- 
less influences,  gravity  included,  may  be  brought  to 
bear,  and  the  orbit  of  every  molecule  of  matter  may 
be  prescribed  and  determined  by  the  sum  total  of  all 
other  forces  external  to  it.  Every  atom  may  properly 
be  said  to  have  an  ego  and  a  non-ego  striving  for  the 
mastery.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  obscure  internal 
or  external  influences  are  responsible  for  variations  in 
the  amount  of  vibration  of  the  molecules,  while  at  the 
same  time  there  exists  a  tendency  to  re-establish  a  fixed 
arc  of  molecular  vibration  as  soon  as  these  obscure 
causes  of  disturbance  have  ceased  operating.  The 
instability  of  protoplasm  which  we  call  irritability 
is  a  most  fundamental  property,  giving  to  it  this 
power  of  adjustment  to  external  forces  and  conditions. 
Through  these  repeated  adjustments  the  cell  gradu- 
ally changes,  so  as  ultimately  to  become  adapted  to 
the  particular  conditions  amid  which  it  lives.  When 
the  cell  thus  responds  to  external  influences  it  is  said 
to  react. 

The  Germ-cell  or  Ovum. 

Not  only  the  reproductive  spores  of  algi  and  fungi, 
but  also  the  germ-cells  of  higher  plants  and  animals, 
like  the  pollen  of  flowering  plants,  are  cells.  They 
have  most  of  the  characteristics  enumerated  above, 
the  physiological  and  many  morphological  characters 
being  identical. 


2oo  Education  through  Nature 

Like  the  microscopic  organisms,  the  germ- cells 
have  the  power  to  divide.  This  power  ceases,  how- 
ever, after  a  certain  number  of  divisions,  when  the 
ovum,  like  the  infusorian,  unites  with  another  cell,  as 
in  conjugation.  This  process  is  called  pollination  in 
plants  and  fertilization  or  fecundation  in  animals. 
The  effect  of  this  is  to  cause  the  ovum  to  divide, 
not  into  separate  cells  as  previously,  but  into  cells 
that  remain  permanently  associated  after  cell  divis- 
ion. Consequently  a  colony  of  what  at  first  seems 
like  similar  cells  arises.  This  repeated  division  con- 
tinues; but  the  resulting  cells  forming  the  colony 
gradually  become  different  from  one  another,  like 
cells  becoming  aggregated  into  groups,  constituting  the 
tissues  of  all  higher  plants  and  animals.  In  higher 
plants  the  final  result  of  this  cell  multiplication  is 
the  formation  of  such  tissues  as  bark,  cambium,  wood, 
bast,  sieve,  and  tracheary  tissues;  in  animals  there 
result  skin,  muscle,  bone,  glands,  epithelium,  etc. 
There  are  two  ways  by  which  we  can  account  for  this 
heterogeneity  arising  out  of  comparative  homogeneity. 
First,  we  may  assume  that  the  daughter  cells  arising 
from  cleavage  (as  this  fc  n  of  cell  division  is  called) 
are  not  really  similar  but  eally  different  as  a  result  of 
unequal  division  of  the  mother  cell;  second,  we  may 
assume  that  the  cells  are  exactly  similar,  and  that  they 
gradually  become  different  because  of  the  varying 
conditions  amid  which  they  are  placed.  In  that  case 
we  must  assume  that  the  constantly  increasing  multi- 
plicity of  cells  introduces  a  new  factor  into  the  life 
of  each  cell,  inasmuch  as  it  now  reacts,  not  only  to 
external  influences,  but  all  the  cells,  also,  react  on 
each  other.  Every  increase  in  the  number  of  cells 
causes  a  change  in  the  environment  of  every  cell,  and 
necessitates  a  new  and  different  reaction  on  the  part 
of  every  cell.  Each  cell,  we  will  say,  is  now  a  member 
of  a  social  body.  Every  reaction,  we  have  seen, 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          201 

implies  protoplasmic  waste,  which,  even  though  made 
good  by  nutrition,  leaves  some  trace.  A  constantly 
shifting  environment  incident  to  the  multiplication 
of  cells,  therefore,  naturally  leads  to  differentiation 
in  the  nature  of  each  cell.  Heterogeneity  thus  re- 
sults from  comparative  homogeneity.  Heterogeneity, 
whether  arising  from  cellular  interaction,  from  re- 
action to  external  influences,  or  from  a  qualitative 
differentiation  due  to  unequal  nuclear  division,  leads 
ultimately  to  the  appearance  of  the  specialized  tissues, 
of  which  all  higher  forms  are  composed. 

Heredity  and  Variation. 

The  specific  property  of  the  original  germ-cell, 
giving  it  a  certain  specific  power  of  reaction  to  its 
conditions  of  existence,  is  the  hereditary  property  of 
the  cell.  What  this  hereditary  property  consists  of, 
whether  it  be  due  to  specific  chemical  substances 
or  to  a  primitive  protoplasmic  structure,  an  organiza- 
tion far  more  complex  than  any  known  chemical 
formula,  is  a  very  important,  but  as  yet  a  disputed, 
question. 

We  know  that  a  hereditary  element  of  some  kind 
does  exist.  It  is  due  to  this  hereditary  property, 
whether  of  the  nature  of  a  complex  chemical  sub- 
stance or  a  primitive  organization,  that  the  long 
series  of  actions  and  reactions  to  intrinsic  and  extrinsic 
forces  finally  leads  to  the  formation  of  an  organism 
resembling  the  species  from  which  the  original  germ- 
cell  is  derived. 

Admitting  a  hereditary  element,  therefore,  in  the 
original  germ  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  total 
denial  of  the  modifying  effect  of  external  influences 
even  on  the  germ,  since  both  intrinsic  and  extrinsic 
factors  are  involved  in  the  final  result. 

VARIATION. — If  the  extrinsic  and  the  intrinsic 
factors,  or  the  hereditary  element  and  the  environ- 


202  Education  through  Nature 

ment,  were  always  the  same,  only  one  resultant  could 
be  possible,  and  all  development  would  necessarily 
result  invariably  in  identical  beings.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  however,  both  factors  vary.  The  hereditary 
element  is  made  to  vary  by  the  blending  of  different 
cells  in  fecundation;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  envi- 
ronment is  necessarily  changed  every  time  the  cell 
divides.  Hence  heterogeneity  (variation)  must  result 
not  only  in  the  constituent  cell  of  an  organism,  but 
in  the  organisms  themselves. 

The  Life  of  a  Complex  Organism. 

Complex  as  the  original  germ  may  be,  the  fully 
formed  organism  is  infinitely  more  so.  It  is  in  fact  a 
world,  S3  to  speak,  of  heterogeneous  vital  units,  the 
cells,  possessing  specific  qualities  of  their  own  by 
which  each  unit  not  only  maintains  its  own  individu- 
ality, but  contributes  to  the  more  complex  life  of  the 
whole.  The  whole  organism  exerts  a  coercive  power 
over  these  lesser  units,  which,  in  turn,  by  their  spe- 
cific reactions,  may  influence  the  life  of  the  whole.  The 
whole,  therefore,  is  as  essential  in  the  developed  organ- 
ism as  are  the  parts,  and  the  part  as  essential  as  the 
whole.  Neither  can  exist  without  the  other.  This 
interdependence  is  due  to  the  specialization  and  dif- 
ferentiation which  must  always  exist  in  a  complex 
organism,  and  indeed  increases  as  the  complexity 
increases. 

The  life  of  such  a  complex  organism,  though  not 
perhaps  fundamentally  different  from  the  original 
germ-cells,  is  a  resultant  of  the  interaction  of  many 
lesser  lives,  the  lives  of  the  constituent  cells. 

Just  as  the  life  of  the  germ  pervades  the  entire 
organism,  so  does  this  higher,  more  complex  life 
pervade  the  entire  organism.  Inasmuch  as  the  life 
of  the  developed  organism  depends  on  the  life  of  the 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          203 

constituent  cells,  any  maladjustment  of  these  lesser 
lives  betrays  itself  in  abnormal  conditions  of  the  final 
product. 

The  healthy  life  of  the  constituent  cells  shows 
itself  in  the  normal  performance  of  their  functions; 
and  this  depends,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  proper 
balance  between  anabolic  or  constructive  processes, 
and  catabolic  or  destructive  processes  (normal  nutri- 
tive processes),  and  secondly  on  their  normal  reaction 
to  impressed  forces  and  influences.  Such  normal 
reaction  is  necessary  to  the  proper  performance  of 
function,  and  is  dependent  on  the  proper  maintenance 
of  that  equilibrium  between  waste  and  repair  which 
maintains  the  integrity  of  the  cell.  Every  reaction 
involves  waste,  which  must  be  made  good  by  nutri- 
tion if  a  similar  reaction  is  to  follow.  Any  failure 
to  restore  the  nutritive  equilibrium  shows  itself  in  a 
modified  reaction,  as  is  abundantly  shown  in  muscle 
fatigue  artificially  produced  by  electrical  stimulation. 

DISEASE. — Abnormal  states  of  the  cells  of  the  body, 
be  it  from  imperfect  nutrition  or  from  other  causes, 
tend  to  aggravate  the  disorder  by  the  disturbances 
this  occasions  in  the  organism  as  a  whole.  General 
disease  of  the  whole  organism  may  thus  be  produced, 
which,  reacting  on  the  constituent  cells,  aggravates 
their  disorder.  In  both  health  and  disease,  therefore, 
the  relation  of  a  whole  to  the  part  and  of  the  part  to 
the  whole  is  most  intimate  and  important. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  MIND.— The  health  of  the  cell 
reveals  itself  in  the  proper  performance  of  its  various 
functions  and  in  its  normal  reaction  to  its  environ- 
ment. In  the  free  swimming-cell  adaptation  to  envi- 
ronment often  has  the  appearance  of  a  spontaneous 
mental  act,  when  disturbing  causes  are  not  discernible, 
and  of  reflex  action  when  they  are  evident.  We  are 
strongly  tempted  to  infer,  therefore,  that  these  reac- 
tions to  environment  are  the  simplest  manifestations 


204  Education  through  Nature 

of  what  we  call  mental  processes,  and  hence  to  con- 
clude that  a  rudimentary  mind  exists  even  in  the  cell. 

Evidently  such  a  primitive  mind  revealing  itself 
as  a  purposeful  adaptation  to  environment,  as  when 
an  infusorian  turns  aside  to  avoid  an  object  or  selects 
the  food  suited  to  its  nutrition,  retreats  in  the  presence 
of  danger,  or  recognizes  and  embraces  an  organism 
of  its  own  kind,  is  as  much  a  function  of  the  proto- 
plasm of  the  cell  as  are  nutrition  and  motion.  The 
normal  manifestation  of  this  primitive  mind  is  co- 
ordinated with  the  normal  discharge  of  the  other 
functions  of  the  cell.  Spontaneity  ceases  when  dis- 
turbed nutrition  or  other  injurious  influences  have 
caused  the  vital  processes  to  be  arrested,  from  which 
we  infer  the  close  connection  between  what  we  call 
life  and  what  we  call  mind.  The  two  coexist  in  a 
very  elementary  way  in  the  germ,  and  consequently 
have  no  absolute  beginning,  but  are  transmitted  with 
the  protoplasm  from  one  generation  to  the  next. 

III.  The  Principal  Facts  in  the  History  of  a  Flower- 
ing Plant. 

Within  the  little  seed  there  is  a  tiny  plant  called 
the  embryo.  This  is  composed  of  a  great  number 
of  cells  arranged  into  a  caulicle,  two  cotyledons, 
and  a  plumule.  The  seed  has  been  covered  with  a 
thin  inner  coat  and  a  thick,  tough,  and  impervious 
outer  coat  or  testa,  which  have  protected  the  embryo 
from  injury  and  retained  some  of  its  moisture.  The 
embryo,  though  alive,  has  remained  dormant,  asleep, 
for  several  years,  perhaps  (time  varies  with  different 
seeds  from  three  to  perhaps  forty  years),  without 
suffering  serious  injury. 

The  cotyledons  are  large  in  the  bean  because  of  a 
considerable  quantity  of  starch  which  has  been  depos- 
ited there  at  the  time  when  the  embryo  was  formed. 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          205 

The  formation  of  the  embryo  was  the  result  of  the 
fertilization  of  the  flower  in  which  the  seed  was  pro- 
duced. 

So  long  as  the  seed  remained  dry  the  starch,  or 
albumen,  as  it  is  also  called,  remained  unchanged, 
being  insoluble  as  starch  (recall  Experiment  I,  c). 
Hence  it  could  not  be  used  as  food  by  the  embryo. 
As  soon  as  the  seed,  however,  is  soaked  or  placed  in 
moist  earth  of  sufficiently  high  temperature,  water 
enters  the  seed  (recall  Experiment  VI,  6),  causing  it  to 
swell,  and  the  starch  is  partly  changed  into  sugar, 
giving  the  seed  a  sweetish  taste. 

The  sugar  is  soluble  (Experiment  I,  c),  and  is  gradu- 
ally absorbed  by  the  little  embryo,  which  has  slowly 
awakened  from  its  sleep  because  of  the  stimulating 
effect  of  heat  and  moisture.  The  taking  in  of  this 
sugar,  as  boys  and  girls  sometimes  do,  enables  the 
little  embryo  to  grow.  As  it  grows  it  becomes  too 
large  for  the  original  seed-coats;  and,  consequently, 
causes  them  to  burst  somewhat  as  a  growing  crayfish 
causes  his  shell  to  split  or  a  chick  causes  its  egg- 
shell to  crack.  Its  root  lengthens  out  and  turns  away 
from  the  light;  the  tiny  leaflets  of  the  plumule  increase 
in  size;  the  stem  lengthens  and  carries  the  leaves 
upward  towards  the  light,  the  leaves  being  green 
from  the  presence  of  a  coloring- matter  (chlorophyl), 
the  roots  being  pale  white  and  covered  with  tiny  root- 
hairs. 

While  this  unfolding  of  the  embryo  has  been  going  on, 
the  original  food  supply  has  been  diminishing,  till 
nothing  scarcely  but  the  seed-coats  remain.  The 
little  plant  must  now  adopt  a  new  method  of  obtaining 
food.  Like  the  chick  just  hatched,  it  must  now  begin 
to  find  its  own  food.  This  it  does  by  means  of  its  roots 
and  root-hairs  in  the  soil. 

PHYSIOLOGY  OF  ABSORPTION  AND  CIRCULATION. — 
In  the  soil,  surrounding  the  root,  more  or  less  mois- 


2o6          Education  through  Nature 

ture  is  present.  This  moisture  has  come  down,  per- 
haps, as  rain;  and,  percolating  down  through  the  soil, 
it  has  come  into  contact  with  various  salts  and  gases — 
carbon  dioxide,  nitrogen,  and  others  variously  com- 
bined. These  have  been  dissolved,  more  or  less,  and 
have  entered  into  the  water  as  solutions  (Experiment  I). 

The  roots,  with  their  root-hairs,  like  tiny  tubes 
spread  out  in  the  soil,  coil  around  pebbles  and  sand- 
grains,  and  by  a  process  of  osmosis  (Experiment  VIII) 
drink  up  the  water  with  its  dissolved  substances, 
much  as  blotting-paper  takes  up  a  drop  of  spilt  ink 
(Experiment  VI). 

The  water  then  rises  through  the  stem  (Experiment 
III)  partly  because  of  root-pressure,  due  to  osmosis 
(Experiment  VIII),  and  partly  by  capillary  attraction, 
as  in  the  experiment  with  the  filter-paper.  In  this 
way  the  water  is  carried  up  to  the  leaves,  being 
prevented  from  oozing  out  from  the  side  of  the  stem 
by  the  outer  layer  surrounding  the  stem  like  a  skin 
(Experiment  X).  This  cuticle  is  impervious  to  water, 
as  can  be  seen  in  the  experiment  with  the  cork 
(Part  I,  Chapter  IV,  Section  XIII). 

Transpiration.  The  leaves,  being  spread  out,  offer 
a  large  surface,  from  which  evaporation  can  take  place. 
But  they,  too,  are  covered  with  cuticle.  On  the  under 
side  of  the  leaf,  however — the  side  usually  turned  away 
from  the  source  of  light — there  are  numerous  pores  or 
openings  in  the  cuticle,  so  constructed  that  they  close 
and  open  according  to  the  dampness  of  the  atmosphere. 
These  pores  are  called  stomata.  They  allow  air  to 
enter,  which,  coming  in  contact  with  the  water  in  the 
stem  and  leaf,  becomes  laden  with  the  moisture  which 
entered  the  root  from  the  soil,  and  carries  it  away  some- 
what as  vapor  or  perspiration  is  carried  away  from 
our  skin  (Experiment  IX). 

Respiration.  Air  enters  the  soil  around  the  roots 
of  the  plant  when  the  soil >  is  well  stirred.  The  farmer 


( 

Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          207 

often  has  to  do  this  in  cultivating  plants  partly  to 
keep  moisture  in  the  soil  and  partly  to  allow  free  circu- 
lation of  air  around  the  roots  of  the  plants.  If  air  is 
excluded  the  plant  usually  dies.  That  which  enters 
the  stomata  passes  into  air- cavities  in  the  spongy 
under  sides  of  the  leaves;  and,  from  there,  into  air- 
tubes  found  in  different  parts  of  the  stem.  In  that 
way  the  plant  breathes.  By  the  expansion  and  con- 
traction of  this  contained  air,  as  the  temperature 
outside  rises  or  falls,  with  the  changes  of  seasons  or 
day  and  night,  the  sap  contained  in  the  stem  is  sub- 
jected to  pressure,  which,  if  the  outer  cuticle  be  re- 
moved, causes  the  sap  to  flow  out  from  the  wounded 
part.  Thus  the  plant  bleeds,  in  one  sense,  as  animals  do. 

The  air  circulating  in  the  leaves  and  stem  of  the 
plant  takes  up  certain  waste  substances  resulting 
from  vital  action  of  the  plant,  in  the  form  of  carbon 
dioxide,  which  is  exhaled.  Otherwise  the  accumula- 
tion of  the  waste  would  be  injurious  or  even  fatal  to 
the  plant.  This  exhalation  of  carbon  dioxide  takes 
place  at  all  times,  but  is  most  in  evidence  at  night 
or  in  darkness. 

Assimilation.  The  green  substance  in  the  leaf, 
leaf- green,  or  chlorophyl,  is  developed  in  the  living 
substance  in  some  unknown  way  through  the  action 
of  sunlight,  somewhat,  perhaps,  as  tan  and  freckles 
are  developed  in  our  skin  when  our  face  is  exposed 
to  the  sun.  If  deprived  of  sunlight  it  disappears. 
That  can  be  seen  in  the  white  color  of  clover  which 
has  been  covered  for  some  time  by  any  opaque  body, 
as  a  board  or  a  rock.  Various  patterns  can  be  in- 
scribed on  a  leaf  by  covering  it  with  an  opaque  pattern, 
as  pieces  of  cork. 

Chlorophyl  is  able  to  utilize  the  energy  of  sunlight 
in  doing  chemical  work.  By  the  aid  of  the  sun's 
energy  salts  and  other  substances  remaining  in  the 
sap  after  water  has  evaporated  from  the  leaf  is  made 


208         Education  through  Nature 

to  unite  with  parts  of  water  and  carbon  dioxide  taken 
in  with  the  air  and  form  proteids  and  starch. 

The  starch  is  formed  in  little  granules  within  the 
chlorophyl  bodies  during  the  day.  At  night .  it  is 
changed  into  sugar,  which,  being  soluble  in  the  sap 
(Experiment  I),  is  taken  up  by  it. 

The  sap  of  the  leaf,  having  thus  become  more  satu- 
rated than  in  other  parts  of  the  plant,  diffusion  begins, 
as  in  Experiment  III,  the  sugar  spreading  out  and 
passing  downwards  into  the  stem  and  roots,  where  it 
either  serves  as  food  for  the  growing  plant,  or  else  is 
stored  there  as  reserve  food  after  again  having  been 
converted  back  into  starch. 

Growth.  By  the  action  of  sunlight  on  the  chlorophyl 
the  plant  is  able  to  make  its  own  food  from  dissolved 
salts,  water,  and  air,  and,  by  a  process  peculiar  to  all 
living  things,  called  assimilation,  is  able  to  convert  the 
food  into  its  own  substance.  The  result  of  this  com- 
plex process  is  growth. 

The  bean  plant  increases  in  size  by  the  roots  pene- 
trating deeper  and  deeper  into  the  soil,  and  by  the  stem 
lengthening  out  and  carrying  the  leaves  with  it.  It  is 
not  definitely  known  why  the  stem  grows  upwards 
while  the  roots  grow  downwards.  It  has  been  thought 
that  gravity,  the  force  which  causes  an  apple  to  fall 
to  the  ground,  may  have  something  to  do  with  it. 
That  this  direction  of  growth  of  stem  and  root  can  be 
reversed  is  shown  by  Experiment  XIV.  The  up- 
ward growth  of  the  stem  enables  the  plant  to  spread 
its  leaves  out  and  thus  expose  them  to  more  air  and 
sunshine.  It  is  a  clear  case  of  fitness  of  things,  evi- 
dent adaptation  to  essential  conditions,  giving  the 
appearance  of  intelligent  purpose  or  design. 

As  the  season  advances  it  grows  less  rapidly,  till  it 
ultimately  stops  growing  altogether;  but  not  before 
developing  new  seeds  containing  little  embryos,  the 
beginning  of  a  new  generation. 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          209 

REPRODUCTION. — As  the  rapidity  of  growth  de- 
creases the  stem  does  not  lengthen  out  materially. 
Hence  the  new  leaves,  smaller  and  more  delicate  in 
texture,  become  crowded  together  into  little  clusters 
arranged  in  circles,  and  constituting  the  flower.  The 
outer  part  of  these  flowers,  especially  the  corolla, 
is  beautifully  white  and  delicate.  At  the  base  of  the 
stamens  and  pistil  are  little  glands  from  which  there 
issues  a  fragrant,  sweet  fluid,  the  nectar. 

Bees,  guided  by  the  fragrance  and  color  of  the 
flower,  pass  from  one  to  another,  sucking  up  the  nectar. 
While  thus  engaged  they  unconsciously  carry  pollen 
from  the  stamen  of  one  flower  to  the  pistil  of  another 
flower,  thus  causing  the  cross-fertilization  of  those 
flowers. 

This  having  been  accomplished,  a  new  seed  is 
formed  with  its  tiny  embryo  in  the  ovary  at  the  base 
of  the  pistil. 

Thus,  having  passed  from  the  seed  through  a  regular 
series  of  changes  and  growth,  the  plant  produces 
new  seeds  and  then  dies.  The  new  seed,  however, 
is  alive,  but  remains  in  a  dormant  or  sleeping  state, 
as  before,  till  conditions  of  temperature  and  moisture 
are  again  suitable  for  germination.  Then  there  is 
developed  from  this  seed  a  new  plant  resembling  the 
old  plant,  its  parent;  but  varying,  perhaps,  in  some 
minor  respects,  since  it  is  now  the  result  of  two  plants 
combined. 

Heredity.  The  similarity  of  one  plant  to  its  parent 
is  due  to  what  is  called  heredity.  The  blending  of 
the  characters  of  the  two  plants  in  cross-fertilization 
gives  rise,  perhaps,  to  some  of  the  variations  or  differ- 
ences which  one  often  sees  between  different  bean 
plants. 

Natural  Selection.  Those  plants  whose  characters, 
as  the  lengthened  stem,  are  suited  to  the  conditions 
amid  which  the  plant  is  placed,  will  grow  strongest, 


210  Education  through  Nature 

and  consequently  will  be  able  to  withstand  the  en- 
croachments of  weeds,  that  are  sure  to  appear  on  the 
scene  when  the  bean-patch  is  not  well  cultivated  by 
the  owner.  The  appearance  of  weeds  is  much  like 
the  arrival  of  an  enemy.  A  conflict  ensues  between 
the  bean  and  the  weed  as  to  which  shall  have  most 
soil,  most  rain,  and  most  sunshine.  The  weak  bean, 
which  is  not  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  life,  will 
succumb  in  this  struggle  and  will  produce  no  flower 
and  no  fruit. 

This  struggle  is  called  the  " struggle  for  existence"; 
and  the  success  of  the  strong  bean,  the  failure  of 
the  weak,  is  called  " natural  selection"  or  " Survival 
of  the  Fittest." 

IV.    Some  Important  Facts  in  the  Life   of  Animals. 

Animals,  like  plants,  are  composed  of  either  a  single 
cell,  as  in  the  Protozoa,  or  of  aggregations  of  cells 
or  tissues,  as  in  the  Metazoa.  The  life  of  the  animal, 
like  the  life  of  the  plant,  resides  in  this  ultimate  unit, 
the  cell.  The  cell  is  the  bridge  which  spans  the 
chasm  between  one  generation  and  the  next.  In  the 
plant  this  bridge  may  be  a  spore,  a  single  cell;  or  it 
may  be  the  seed,  a  large  aggregation  of  cells  forming 
an  embryo.  In  the  animal,  too,  it  may  be  a  spore, 
or  an  egg,  which  is  often  only  a  cell,  but  frequently 
a  cell  with  many  accessory  parts,  and  often  with  a 
partly  formed  embryo,  as  in  the  hen's  egg. 

In  either  case  life  is  continuous,  being  associated 
with  that  primitive  organic  substance  called  proto- 
plasm. It  is  now  maintained  that  all  life,  plant  or 
animal,  springs  from  some  preceding  life,  the  parent, 
the  seeds  or  eggs  being  little  particles  detached,  like 
buds,  to  give  rise  to  new  organisms. 

Good  examples  of  these  reproductive  bodies  are 
afforded  by  frog-spawn.  This  is  very  common  in 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals 


early  spring,  being  found  in  shallow  pools,  often 
floating  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  or  lying  near 
the  banks  of  quiet  streams  in  large  gelatinous  masses, 
or  attached  to  submarine  plants  in  small  clusters. 
Frog-spawn  may  be  put  into  jars  of  fresh  water  and 
kept  in  the  school-room,  where  the  development  of 
the  eggs  into  tadpoles  can  be  observed. 

At  first  the  egg  of  the  frog  has  a  white  and  a  black 
side,  the  former  the  vegetative,  the  latter,  the  animal 
pole.  Development  begins  when  the  egg  has  been 
fertilized. 

Fertilization  takes  place  in  the  water  as  soon  as 
the  egg  is  oviposited  by  the  female  frog.  At  first  two 
small  bodies,  the  polar  globules,  are  pinched  off  from 
the  egg.  This  can  be  seen  by  the  aid  of  a  hand-lens 
if  closely  watched. 

Segmentation.  Maturation  being  completed,  the 
egg  as  a  whole  begins  to  divide  by  the  formation  of 
furrows,  visible  on  the  surface,  and  passing  at  first 
from  the  animal  to  the  vegetative  pole.  Furrows  then 
form  at  right  angles  to  those  first  formed.  The 
result  of  this  cleavage,  or  segmentation,  as  it  is  called, 
is  the  gradual  obliteration  of  the  white  vegetative 
pole  by  the  growth  over  it  of  the  animal  pole,  the 
last  stage  of  which  is  called  the  closing  of  the  blasto- 
pore. 

Formation  of  the  Embryo.  Ridges  and  furrows 
then  make  their  appearance,  which,  growing  together 
above,  constitute  the  neural  canal  or  spinal  cord  and 
brain.  From  this  stage  the  egg  passes  rapidly  into 
the  tadpole  form,  being  gradually  elongated,  a  tail 
forming  opposite  the  head  end  of  the  animal.  Already 
the  spherical  egg  has  been  converted  into  an  elongated 
animal,  having  bilateral  symmetry  and  fore  and  aft 
polarity.  How  has  it  all  been  accomplished?  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  thoughtless  to  take  such  things 
for  granted,  as  if  they  needed  no  explanation. 


212          Education  through  Nature 

Different  Kinds  of  Eggs.  The  development  of  the 
eggs  of  all  higher  animals  resembles  that  of  the  frog 
more  or  less  completely,  according  as  the  egg  con- 
tains a  large  or  a  small  quantity  of  yolk.  The  latter 
is  food  material  stored  up  in  the  egg.  Yolk  varies 
greatly  in  amount  in  the  eggs  of  different  animals, 
being  the  chief  cause  of  difference  in  size  of  different 
eggs.  Most  eggs  are  spherical  or  oval.  The  eggs  of 
some  insects  are  greatly  elongated  or  cylindrical,  as 
in  flies  and  grasshoppers.  In  the  latter  case  the 
polarity  which  appears  in  the  embryo  is  foreshadowed 
in  the  undeveloped  egg. 

Accessory  parts  exist  in  many  eggs,  that  are  often 
responsible  both  for  the  extraordinary  size  and  the 
unusual  shape  of  some  eggs.  In  the  frog's  egg,  the 
gelatinous  mass  surrounding  it,  is  a  secretion  of  the 
oviduct,  a  tube  conveying  the  egg  from  the  ovary, 
where  it  is  produced.  This  gelatinous  substance 
corresponds  to  the  albumen  or  white  of  birds'  eggs, 
which  is  also  a  secretion  of  the  oviduct.  In  this  case, 
however,  it  becomes  surrounded,  later,  by  a  new 
secretion  of  the  lower  end  of  the  oviduct,  which  hardens 
into  a  shell.  The  shell  of  the  hen's  egg  does  not  repre- 
sent the  original  cell- wall  or  membrane,  as  in  the  frog's 
egg,  but  is  an  entirely  foreign  coat  added  to  the  egg 
as  it  passes  down  the  oviduct. . 

Both  the  albumen  and  the  yolk  of  these  eggs  are 
secretions  intended  for  nourishment  of  the  growing 
embryo.  Eggs  having  but  little  yolk,  as  those  of 
mammals,  remain  attached  to  the  parent  in  a  special 
organ,  the  uterus.  By  this  means  the  deficiency  in 
yolk  material  is  made  good  by  nourishment  derived 
directly  from  the  blood  of  the  mother,  and  after  birth 
by  the  mother's  milk.  The  milk  glands  in  mammals 
may,  therefore,  be  compared,  functionally,  to  the 
glands  in  the  oviduct  of  the  frog  or  the  hen  which 
fcecrete  the  albumen- 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          213 

All  meta'zoa  reproduce  by  means  of  eggs.  Occa- 
sionally the  eggs  develop  without  fertilization.  They 
are,  in  fact,  buds  instead  of  eggs  in  some  instances, 
being  composed  of  a  group  of  cells  instead  of  a  single 
cell. 

In  protozoa,  the  cell,  of  which  the  animal  consists, 
divides,  each  half  becoming  a  separate  individual; 
while,  in  the  metazoa,  the  cells  resulting  from  cleavage 
of  the  egg  remain  associated. 

Tissues.  By  a  process  of  specialization,  cells  become 
different,  and  similar  ones  are  aggregated  into  groups 
constituting  the  tissues  of  the  animal.  These  may  be 
classified  as  (i)  epithelial,  (2)  connective,  (3)  carti- 
laginous, (4)  osseous,  (5)  dental,  (6)  adipose,  (7)  mus- 
cular, (8)  nervous  tissues. 

ORGANS,  SYSTEMS,  AND  FUNCTIONS. — The  tissues 
are  arranged  into  organs.  The  latter  are  aggregated 
into  systems,  carrying  on  the  vital  functions  of  the 
animal. 

The  functions  may  be  classed  as:  (i)  nutritive, 
involving  the  physiological  processes  of  (a)  ingestion, 
(b)  digestion,  (c)  absorption,  (d)  circulation,  (e)  assimi- 
lation, (/)  secretion,  (g)  excretion,  (h)  respiration; 
(2)  sensation;  (3)  motion;  (4)  reproduction. 

Sensation  and  motion  are  not  peculiar  to  animals 
any  more  than  the  other  functions;  yet  animal  intelli- 
gence seems  to  grow  out  of  them,  and  consequently 
they  may  be  called  animal  as  contrasted  with  vegeta- 
tive functions. 

Nutrition  in  animals,  as  in  •  plants,  is  necessary, 
because  living  things  waste.  In  animals,  as  in  plants, 
the  loss  is  made  good  by  food,  which  is  both  organic 
and  inorganic.  All  things  taken  into  the  body,  serv- 
ing to  build  up  the  body,  and  to  restore  wasted  energy, 
may  be  called  a  food,  provided  the  organism  is  not 
injured  by  it. 

Inorganic  foods  of  animals  are  chiefly  air,  water, 


214  Education  through  Nature 

salts,   lime,   etc.     The  organic  foods  may  be  either 
of  animal  or  of  vegetable  origin. 

Many  insects,  as  the  beetle,  butterfly,  and  most 
mammals,  are  herbivorous.  Many  protozoa,  most 
coelenterates,  echinoderms,  mollusks,  Crustacea,  some 
insects,  arachnids,  fishes,  amphibians,  reptiles,  some 
birds,  and  the  clawed  mammals,  are  carnivorous.  A 
few  animals,  including  man,  are  omnivorous. 

The  food  of  animals  is  a  matter  for  observation 
and  study,  since  it  not  only  influences  the  character 
of  the  animals  as  regards  its  utility  to  man,  but  is  sug- 
gestive in  connection  with  special  adaptations  for 
obtaining  food  and  for  preparing  the  same  for  nutri- 
tive uses  in  the  body. 

The  alimentary  canal  is  the  organ  into  which  food 
is  taken.  It  exists  in  all  animals  except  protozoa, 
sponges,  and  some  parasitic  forms  like  the  tapeworm. 
In  these  food  is  absorbed  through  the  outer  layers  of 
the  body.  In  all  other  metazoa  the  alimentary  canal 
is  either  a  simple  bag  with  a  mouth-opening  or  else  a 
tube  passing  either  straight  through  the  body  or 
variously  coiled  and  enlarged  into  pouches,  such  as 
the  stomach.  The  simpler  the  animal,  usually,  the 
simpler  the  alimentary  canal.  Thus  in  hydra  and 
corals  it  is  a  mere  bag,  not  distinctly  separated  from 
the  body-wall.  Herbivorous  animals  usually  have  a 
more  complex  alimentary  canal  than  carnivorous, 
the  stomach  in  the  latter  being  less  developed,  and 
the  intestines  shorter. 

The  length  of  the  alimentary  canal,  therefore, 
varies  with  the  diet,  and  also  with  the  habits  of  the 
animals  as  regards  its  mode  of  obtaining  its  food, 
whether  by  its  own  efforts  or  through  the  means  of  a 
host,  as  in  the  case  of  parasites.  Much  can  be  inferred 
in  regard  to  the  internal  structure  of  animals  from  an 
examination  of  their  teeth,  there  being  usually  remark- 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          215 

able  adaptations  of  external  characters  to  the  habits 
and  mode  of  life  of  the  animal. 

An  animal  has  been  compared  to  a  plant  turned 
inside  out.  By  this  is  meant  that  the  roots  of  plants, 
serving  for  absorption,  are  spread  out  and  perma- 
nently fastened  to  the  soil,  from  which  the  plant  is 
nourished.  In  animals,  the  absorbing  villi,  corre- 
sponding to  roots  or  root-hairs,  are  turned  inward, 
thus  coming  in  contact  with  the  food  material  of  the 
alimentary  canal.  Thus  the  animal  might  be  said 
to  carry  the  soil  around  with  it.  The  alimentary 
canal  is  thus  an  adaptation  to  enable  the  animal  to 
move  from  place  to  place  to  get  its  food.  The  free- 
dom of  movement  thus  secured  is  necessary  to  the 
higher  development  which  the  animal  attains.  Some 
fixed  forms  of  animals,  like  the  sponge,  hydra,  corals, 
etc.,  are  comparatively  low.  Their  alimentary  canal 
is, a  mere  bag  with  a  single  primitive  opening,  the 
mouth. 

Digestion.  Food,  while  in  the  alimentary  canal, 
is  really  outside  the  body.  To  be  useful  as  food  it 
must  be  absorbed.  The  alimentary  canal"  is,  in  all 
cases,  lined  by  a  layer  of  cells,  the  epithelium.  In 
the  primitive  forms  this  epithelium  is  variously  folded 
so  as  to  produce  pouches  either  simple  or  more  com- 
plex. They  are  the  glands  of  the  alimentary  canal 
concerned  in  digestion.  The  principal  ones  are: 
(i)  the  salivary  glands  at  the  entrance  to  the  alimentary 
canal,  variously  developed  according  to  the  food  of 
the  animal;  (2)  the  liver,  the  largest  and  most  con- 
stant gland  in  the  animal  kingdom,  being  well  devel- 
oped in  mollusks  and  all  animals  above  them.  To 
these  are  added  the  pancreas  and  gastric  glands  or 
glands  corresponding  to  them  in  the  higher  vertebrates. 

Even  the  simple  tubular  glands  of  the  alimentary 
canal  secrete  fluids  that  either  serve  to  soften  the  food 
or  else  produce  such  chemical  changes  as  will  prepare 


2i6  Education  through  Nature 

the  food  for  absorption  through  the  wall  of  the  diges- 
tive tube. 

Absorption  and  Circulation.  The  food,  when  ab- 
sorbed, passes  either  into  the  lymph  of  the  body-cavity, 
diffusing  thence  throughout  the  body,  or  else  enters 
the  blood  circulation  and  is  distributed  by  it.  The 
simplest  form  of  such  circulation  exists  in  the  jelly- 
fish, where  the  primitive  stomach  gives  off  radiating- 
tubes.  In  the  sponges  the  food  is  carried  by  currents 
of  water  to  the  individual  cells,  as  in  protozoa.  In 
the  hydra,  sea-anemone,  and  coral,  the  food  is  practi- 
cally in  contact  with  the  body-cells,  as  the  stomach  is 
not  distinct  from  the  body-wall.  In  the  starfish  and 
sea-urchin  a  system  of  water-tubes,  the  ambulacral 
system,  seems  to  serve  partly  for  circulation.  But  even 
here  a  primitive,  distinct  circulatory  system  exists. 

The  Blood  is  pre-eminently  the  circulatory  medium. 
It  is  essentially  a  liquid  tissue  with  a  fluid  intercellu- 
lar substance.  In  forms  as  low  as  echinoderms  and 
mollusks,  the  blood  differs  very  little  from  water, 
having  in  solution  dissolved  proteids,  salts,  and  a  few 
corpuscles.  In  the  lower  forms,  too,  it  is  colorless, 
and  of  the  same  temperature  as  the  medium  in  which 
the  animal  lives.  All  invertebrate  animals,  including 
fishes,  amphibians,  and  reptiles,  are  cold-blooded. 

The  Circulatory  System  of  animals  consists  of  tubes. 
The  most  primitive,  perhaps,  is  that  of  the  echinoderms, 
where  it  is  a  pulsating-tube  lying  alongside  the  ali- 
mentary canal,  and  forming  a  ring  around  the  latter 
at  the  oral  and  aboral  pole.  Below  the  echinoderms 
a  circulatory  system  cannot  be  said  to  exist,  though 
even  in  protozoa  a  contractile  vacuole  is  thought  by 
some  to  serve  as  a  circulatory  organ.  In  worms  the 
circulatory  system  consists  of  a  dorsal  and  a  ventral 
tube,  united  in  the  anterior  segments  by  anastomosing, 
pulsating-tubes,  or  primitive  hearts.  In  mollusks  the 
primitive  tube  is  enlarged  into  a  heart  which,  by  its 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          217 

contractions,  forces  the  blood  out  at  one  end  and  draws 
it  in  at  the  other.  In  insects  the  heart  is  a  long  tube 
lying  on  the  dorsal  side  of  the  animal,  causing  an  incom- 
plete circulation,  inasmuch  as  the  blood-vessels  lead- 
ing from  the  heart  are  not  continuous  with  those  lead- 
ing to  the  heart. 

Usually  the  higher  the  animal  in  the  scale,  the  more 
perfect  the  circulation.  In  most  mollusks  the  heart 
consists  of  one  ventricle  and  two  auricles.  In  fishes 
it  consists  of  two  chambers,  an  auricle  and  a  ventricle; 
in  amphibians  and  reptiles,  three  chambers,  two 
auricles  and  one  ventricle;  while  in  birds  and  mam- 
mals the  heart  has  four  chambers. 

The  Object  of  the  Circulation  seems  to  be,  not  only 
to  convey  the  food  material  from  the  alimentary 
canal  to  the  places  where  it  is  needed  to  build  up 
the  wasted  parts,  but  also  to  distribute  the  heat  in 
warm-blooded  animals,  making  the  temperature  uni- 
form. This  heat-production  depends  on  the  presence 
of  oxygen,  which  is  also  necessary  to  the  liberation  of 
other  forms  of  energy,  as  the  energy  of  motion.  The 
circulation  of  the  blood  serves  to  distribute  oxygen 
to  parts  where  it  is  needed;  and  also  to  remove  waste, 
such  as  carbon  dioxide,  and  carry  it  to  the  respiratory 
organs,  where  it  is  removed  from  the  body. 

Assimilation.  Inasmuch  as  all  forms  of  energy 
expended  by  an  animal,  either  as  heat,  chemical  energy, 
or  motion,  are  derived  from  the  animaPs  tissues,  involv- 
ing their  disorganization  or  dissociation,  the  loss  to 
the  tissues  must  be  made  good  by  assimilation  of  the 
food  prepared  by  digestion  and  conveyed  by  the  cir- 
culation. Assimilation  is  the  work  of  the  individual 
cells  of  the  organism.  It  is  thought  to  consist  in 
building  the  living  protoplasm  of  the  cells  out  of  the 
organic  food.  In  both  plants  and  animals  the  proc- 
ess is  probably  essentially  the  same.  The  power  of 
producing  energy  resides  in  the  cell;  and  this  varies 


2i8  Education  through  Nature 

with  the  condition,  such  as  age,  etc.,  of  each  cell.  The 
power  of  the  cell  to  produce  energy  and  to  assimilate 
food,  restoring  the  waste,  is  gradually  lost  by  the  cell, 
and  this  law,  from  which  there  seems  to  be  no  appeal, 
is  responsible  for  the  old  age  and  final  death  of  all 
living  things. 

Secretion.  Besides  the  energy  given  off  in  the  form 
of  motion  and  heat,  substances  are  produced  by  various 
cells  in  the  body.  Such  production  involves  work 
and  consequently  waste  and  repair.  Substances  pro- 
duced either  by  the  metabolic  activity  of  the  cells, 
or  by  filtration  of  fluids  from  the  blood,  that  are  useful 
in  the  body,  and  apparently  intended  for  use,  as  in 
the  case  of  digestive  fluids,  are  called  secretions. 
Digestive  secretions  of  some  kind  probably  exist  in 
in  all  animals.  But  there  are  many  other  substances 
that  may  properly  be  considered  as  secretions.  Thus 
the  intercellular  substance  in  cartilage  and  bone  is 
probably  a  secretion;  so,  too,  the  plasma  of  the  blood 
is  originally  a  secretion.  Many  secretions  harden 
into  protective  structures,  as  the  exoskeleton  of  insects 
and  Crustacea  and  the  shells  of  mollusks.  Even  the 
cell-membrane,  where  such  exists,  as  in  the  egg,  is  to 
be  regarded  as  partly  or  wholly  a  secretion;  and  we 
have  already  seen  that  the  white  of  the  bird's  egg, 
and  the  gelatinous  covering  of  the  amphibian  egg,  are 
secretions  of  the  oviduct.  The  yolk  of  birds'  eggs  is 
probably  partly  a  secretion  of  the  follicle-cells,  partly 
an  internal  secretion  of  the  egg  protoplasm,  the  egg- 
shell being  a  hardened  secretion  of  the  oviduct. 

Excretion.  All  activity  involves  waste.  Waste  re- 
sults from  the  breaking  down  of  complex  organic  com- 
pounds into  simple  inorganic  compounds.  Such 
simple  inorganic  compounds  have  no  energy  that  can 
be  used  in  the  body,  and  consequently  are  useless  so 
far  as  maintaining  the  body  is  concerned.  Hence, 
if  allowed  to  accumulate,  they  interfere  with  the  normal 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          219 

processes  and  must  be  eliminated.  The  elimination 
of  waste,  whether  in  plant  or  in  animal,  is  called 
excretion.  Excretion  is  performed  by  the  outer  cover- 
ing or  cuticle  in  lower  forms,  like  protozoa,  ccelenter- 
ates,  jellyfish,  corals,  etc.,  in  connection  with  special 
excretory  organs,  as  the  segmental  organs  or  nephridia 
of  worms  and  similar  organs  in  insects.  In  vertebrates 
kidneys  are  present.  These  are  a  collection  of  tubes 
packed  together  into  a  compact  organ,  the  tubes 
having  some  resemblance  to  the  nephridia  of  worms. 
Besides  the  skin  and  the  kidneys,  the  gills  or  lungs,  also, 
serve  as  excretory  organs,  inasmuch  as  they  carry  off 
gaseous  impurities. 

Respiration.  Besides  food  taken  into  the  alimentary 
canal  as  either  liquid  or  solid,  the  animal  body  is  in 
constant  need  of  a  gas  called  oxygen.  It  exists  in  a 
free  state  mixed  with  nitrogen  in  the  air  or  else  dis- 
solved in  water.  Oxygen  is  necessary  to  all  animals, 
because  it  is  by  the  union  of  oxygen  with  the  tissues 
that  energy  is  set  free  to  produce  heat,  motion,  etc. 
The  plant,  too,  so  far  as  it  does  work,  needs  oxygen; 
but  for  building  up  its  tissues  it  uses  carbon  dioxide, 
the  very  substance  which,  among  other  things,  animals 
throw  off  as  waste. 

In  protozoa  and  other  low  marine  forms  of  life, 
like  sponges,  corals,  etc.,  the  oxygen  is  obtained  from 
the  water  through  the  outer  cuticle,  there  being  no 
special  respiratory  organs.  Many  worms,  like  the 
planarians  and  earthworms,  breathe  wholly  through 
the  cuticle  or  skin.  The  only  provision  for  respiration, 
in  such  cases,  is  an  increase  in  the  vascularity  or  the 
multiplication  of  capillaries  under  the  skin. 

The  mechanism  of  respiration  in  all  animals  is  per- 
formed by  bringing  blood  as  nearly  in  contact  with 
pure  air  or  oxygen  as  possible.  The  primitive  breath- 
ing organ  is  merely  a  thin  layer  of  tissue  separating 
the  blood  from  the  air,  the  blood  being  spread  out  so 


Education  through  Nature 


as  to  expose  as  much  surface  as  possible.  By  the 
simple  law  of  gaseous  diffusion  oxygen  is  taken  up 
by  the  blood  and  carbon  dioxide  is  given  off.  In 
higher  animals  a  substance  called  haemoglobin  exists 
in  the  red  corpuscles;  it  has  a  special  affinity  for  oxygen. 

The  same  simple  principle  of  construction  is  found 
in  the  more  complex  respiratory  organs  —  trachea  —  of 
insects;  gills  of  aquatic  insects,  mollusks,  Crustacea, 
fishes,  and  amphibians;  lungs  of  land  mollusks,  am- 
phibians, reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals.  The  lungs 
of  land  snails  and  those  of  spiders  are  hardly  more 
than  simple  bags,  on  the  walls  of  which  capillaries 
are  spread.  In  the  spider  folds  are  formed  resembling 
the  leaves  of  a  book.  Gills  are  either  in  the  form  of 
lamellae  or  else  in  the  form  of  tufts  of  threads,  as  in 
some  worms. 

All  these  forms  of  breathing  organs  are  well  adapted 
to  secure  a  large  surface.  In  marine  forms  the  respira- 
tory surface  is  usually  freely  exposed;  while  in  air- 
breathing  forms  it  is  enclosed  in  the  body,  as  the  lungs 
of  higher  animals,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  drying 
of  the  surface  from  exposure  to  the  air. 

SENSATION.  —  All  living  things  are  more  or  less  sensi- 
tive to  stimuli,  such  as  contact  with  other  bodies,  chemi- 
cal reagents,  heat,  cold,  electricity,  etc.  The  property 
of  irritability  belongs  to  protoplasm.  In  the  protozoa 
there  is  no  separate  nervous  system.  The  first  traces 
of  such  a  system  are  found  perhaps  in  the  hydra,  where 
some  of  the  ectoderm-  cells  seem  especially  sensitive 
to  stimuli.  In  the  jellyfishes  the  nervous  system 
probably  forms  a  network  of  cells  all  over  the  umbrella 
of  the  animal.  In  the  starfish  and  other  echinoderms 
it  forms  a  ring  around  the  mouth,  sending  off  a  nerve- 
cord  into  each  arm.  All  invertebrates  have  this 
nerve-ring  encircling  the  oesophagus.  Worms,  Crus- 
tacea, and  insects  have  a  ventral  chain  of  ganglia,  a 
pair  of  ganglia  for  each  segment.  In  vertebrates  a 


Life  of  Plants  and  Animals          221 

more  complex  nervous  system,  occupying  a  dorsal 
neural  tube,  is  developed,  the  homologue  of  which  is 
wanting  in  the  invertebrates.  It  consists  of  a  spinal 
cord,  from  which  there  proceed  spinal  nerves  to  the 
'Voluntary  muscles  of  the  body. 

In  the  higher  vertebrates  a  brain,  consisting  of  the  en- 
larged part  of  the  cord,  the  bulb  or  medulla  oblongata, 
the  optic  lobes,  cerebellum,  and  cerebral  hemispheres, 
are  added  to  the  anterior  end  of  the  cord  occupying 
the  skull.  This  part  of  the  nervous  system  is  found 
to  correspond  in  mass  and  complexity  to  the  general 
intelligence  of  the  animal.  Hence  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres are  larger  and  more  convoluted  in  the  ox  than 
in  the  frog.  In  the  fish  the  optic  lobes  are  very  large, 
comparatively,  showing  inferior  development  of  the 
organ  of  intelligence,  the  cerebral  hemispheres.  A 
comparison  of  the  nervous  system  of  different  animals 
shows  a  gradual  concentration  of  the  nervous  matter 
in  the  head,  where  most  of  the  special  sense-organs 
also  are  developed. 

Sense-organs  are  modified  cells  at  the  peripheral 
termination  of  nerves.  Sense-organs  of  touch  are 
most  numerous,  the  sense  of  touch  being  the  most 
general  of  all  the  senses.  Even  these  tend  to  become 
aggregated  in  those  parts  that  are  used  chiefly  as 
tactile  organs,  such  as  antennae,  the  lips,  tongue, 
limbs,  etc.  The  more  special  sense-organs,  like  the 
eye  and  ear,  seem  to  be  formed  by  the  union  of  several 
simple  organs.  They  are  infoldings  of  the  skin. 
Eyes  are  at  first  scarcely  more  than  pigment  spots, 
having  the  power  of  responding  vaguely  to  the  influ- 
ence of  light.  Such  primitive  eyes  can  first  be  seen 
in  medusae,  and  are  frequently  found  in  worms  scat- 
tered over  the  back,  as  in  planarians  or  flatworms. 

Some  mollusks  have  well-developed  eyes  on  the 
edge  of  the  mantle,  others  on  antennae  or  on  the  head, 
and  the  squid  and  its  allies  have  highly  developed 


222  Education  through  Nature 

eyes.     The  compound  eyes  of  arthropods  are  appar- 
ently aggregations  of  simple  eyes. 

The  simplest  ear  is  perhaps  that  of  the  ptenophores. 
It  is  hardly  more  than  a  simple  bag,  an  infolding  of 
the  outer  cuticle,  filled  with  a  fluid  containing  one  or 
more  ear-stones,  or  otholiths.  As  in  the  case  of  other 
sense-organs,  the  ear  becomes  more  perfect  as  we 
ascend  in  the  scale.  In  fishes  there  is  no  external  ear, 
but  the  internal  ear  is  well  developed.  In  the  frog 
the  ear-drum  or  tympanum  is  naked. 

Development  in  the  animal  series  seems  to  be  accom- 
panied by  a  development  of  sense-organs  correspond- 
ing to  development  of  a  central  nervous  system.  The 
intelligence  of  the  animal  is  proportional  to  its  power 
of  recognizing  external  objects  and  influences  through 
the  sense-organs,  and  of  interpreting  them  by  cerebral 
activity,  so  as  to  adjust  itself  to  those  influences. 
Some  of  that  adjustment  consists  in  movement. 

Reflex  Action  and  Instinct.  The  foundation  of  the 
intellectual  part  of  animals  is  sensation  and  motion. 
An  immediate  motor  response  to  a  sense  stimulation 
is  reflex  action.  Instinctive  action  is  hardly  more 
than  a  very  complex  reflex  act,  in  which  the  response 
may  have  been  considerably  delayed. 

Thus  the  reflex  acts  of  the  lower  forms  pass  gradu- 
ally into  the  instinctive  acts  of  the  higher.  Instinctive 
acts,  too,  are  not  separated  by  a  hard  or  fast  line  from 
intelligent  acts. 


CHAPTER  II 
Theories  of  Development 

V.     Organic  Development. 

The  Evolution  Theory.  The  evolution  theory  is 
popularly  attributed  to  Darwin.  He  is  more  properly 
said  to  have  demonstrated  the  truth  of  the  theory  of 
descent  by  natural  selection.  This  theory  of  descent, 
commonly  called  evolution,  was  suggested  even  as 
early  as  the  ancient  Greeks,  which  is  not  surprising, 
since  even  a  child  must  be  able  to  see  that  things  grow 
and  that  one  living  thing  springs  from  another  living 
thing,  as  in  the  case  of  parent  and  offspring.  It  was 
considerably  later  that  the  theory  of  spontaneous 
generation  was  definitely  disproved.  While  the  fact 
of  descent  seemed  so  evident  within  the  same  group  or 
species,  no  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
species  had  been  given  before  the  appearance  of  Dar- 
win's work  bearing  that  title. 

The  explanation  which  Darwin  offered  was  also 
given  by  Wallace  at  about  the  same  time,  and  is 
briefly  this:  By  the  blending  of  ancestral  characters 
variations  arise.  Such  of  those  variations  as  are  use- 
ful are  preserved,  because  they  enable  that  particular 
organism  to  survive  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
Owing  to  the  enormous  increase  in  numbers,  which 
is  everywhere  apparent  in  living  things,  some  must 
perish  in  the  struggle  for  existence;  and  those  that 
do  perish  are  those  least  adapted  to  the  conditions  of 

223 


224  Education  through  Nature 

their  environment.  The  natural  environment,  such 
as  food,  temperature,  and  the  like,  is  supposed  to  act 
very  much  as  the  farmer  acts  when  he  selects  those 
animals  in  his  herd  that  possess  the  characters  which 
he  wishes  to  preserve  and  perpetuate. 

According  to  Darwin,  the  direct  influence  of  the 
environment  has  some  permanent  effect  on  the  organ- 
ism, as  may  also  the  influence  of  use  or  function  of 
different  parts.  Hence  natural  selection,  which  means 
either  life  or  death,  is  not  solely  responsible  for  organic 
changes  resulting  in  permanent  species,  but  the  chief 
cause. 

Wallace,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  that  natural 
selection  is  the  sole  cause  of  variation,  thus  denying 
the  permanent  modifying  influence  of  external  factors, 
as  well  as  use  or  function. 

This  theory  of  Wallace,  regarding  natural  selection 
as  the  sole  cause  of  variation,  has  been  strengthened, 
in  recent  years,  by  Weismann,  who  has  arrived  at  the 
same  conclusion  from  his  studies  in  animal  morphology, 
especially  embryology  and  cytology.  Weismann's  con- 
tribution reduces  itself  down  to  a  denial  of  the  possi- 
bility of  transmission  of  acquired  characters ,  and  has 
given  to  the  theory  of  evolution  a  somewhat  technical 
meaning.  Evolution,  in  this  sense,  means  develop- 
ment from  within.  Weismann  postulates  in  the 
germ-cells,  from  which  living  things  spring,  certain 
living  units,  supposed  to  reside  in  protoplasm,  more 
particularly  in  the  cell-nucleus.  These,  according 
as  they  are  made  to  vary  among  themselves,  by  an 
internal  struggle  and  survival,  determine  the  charac- 
ters of  the  fully  formed  being. 

Evolution,  in  this  sense  of  development  from  within, 
is  now  often  assumed,  not  only  by  social  philosophers, 
but  by  psychologists.  Writers  on  pedagogy  often 
assume  it  unconsciously,  without  considering  what 
share  external  influences  may  have  in  the  forming  of 


Theories  of  Development  225 

an  adult  human  being.  It  is  self-evident  that  such 
an  assumption  of  an  internal  perfecting  tendency, 
independent  of  external  influences,  must  profoundly 
influence  both  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching. 
The  assumption  that  the  child  is  born  with  certain 
potential  possibilities,  seeking  merely  opportunity  to 
unfold  themselves,  is  very  similar  to  the  old  notion  of 
innate  ideas.  This  theory  of  Weismann  and  Wallace 
is  not  only  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Darwin  himself, 
but  is  admittedly  purely  theoretical  and  without  posi- 
tive proof. 

If  such  a  theory  could  be  proven  true,  it  would,  of 
course,  mean  that  the  race  cannot  be  permanently 
improved  directly  by  education.  The  effect  of  external 
influences  during  the  life  of  the  individual  could  not, 
however,  even  then  be  denied.  Yet  Locke's  tabula  rasa 
would  be  proven  a  fiction,  since  the  mind  is  present 
already  in  germ,  needing  only  to  expand  under  proper 
conditions. 

Such  a  theory  of  organic  development  would  logic- 
ally lead  to  a  hot-house  pedagogy,  such  as  we  find, 
in  fact,  in  some  modern  kindergartens.  On  the 
assumption  of  the  truth  of  such  an  evolutionary  theory, 
consistency  would  require  that  our  schools  be  con- 
verted into  secluded  monasteries,  where  the  inborn 
virtues  of  the  child  could  unfold  themselves  untouched 
and  uncorrupted  by  the  realities  of  life.  The  theory 
is,  in  fact,  supported  largely  by  that  class  of  biologists 
who  have  been  trained  in  the  humanities  instead  of 
physical  science.  Being  a  priori  the  theory  is  humanism 
in  the  garb  of  science. 

The  theory  of  evolution,  when  conceived  in  this 
technical  and  restricted  sense,  leaves  little  room  for 
education.  It  assumes  the  individual  to  be  a  micro- 
cosm cut  off  from  external  relations,  and  capable  of 
developing  to  a  predestined  goal  without  those  external 
influences  which  common  tfiound  to 

OF 


22,6  Education  through  Nature 

be  so  potent  in  human  development.  The  new  edu- 
cation has,  in  recent  years,  been  largely  influenced, 
unconsciously  perhaps,  by  the  theory  in  this  form. 
Fortunately,  pedagogy  is  not  yet  sufficiently  consistent 
to  carry  the  theory  out  to  its  logical  results. 

The  Interaction  Theory  of  Development.*  Just  as 
the  theory  of  natural  selection  was  adduced  to  explain 
evolution  by  natural,  rather  than  by  supernatural, 
causes,  so  the  interaction  theory  is  intended  as  a 
mechanical  explanation  of  the  same  phenomena. 
The  latter  theory  is,  therefore,  not  a  denial  of  evolu- 
tion, in  its  original  sense  of  continuity  of  development 
in  organic  life,  but  an  attempt  to  explain  that  develop- 
ment in  more  scientific  terms,  without  the  assumption 
of  purely  imaginary  factors  that  are  themselves  as 
mysterious  and  transcendental  as  the  subject  they  are 
supposed  to  explain. 

This  theory  starts  with  the  recognition  of  the  inti- 
mate relationship  of  living  things  to  their  environment. 
Living  things  are  found  to  be  unstable,  capable  of 
reacting  to  external  forces  and  influences.  Through 
these  reactions,  changes  take  place  in  the  living  thing. 
Such  reactions  are  the  experiences  of  the  organism. 
It  is  assumed  that  the  accumulated  effects  of  these 
experiences  result,  as  years  go  on,  in  the  production  of 
new  characters  which  could  develop  in  no  other  way; 
that  organs  are  not  only  developed  by  use,  but  are 
brought  into  harmonious  relations  to  other  organs 
and  to  the  external  world.  An  initial  organization 
is  sometimes  assumed,  which,  constituting  the  basis 
of  heredity,  gives  to  each  being  a  specific  power  of 
reaction.  Hence  a  personal  element  exists  which 
is  an  important  factor,  but  not  the  sole  factor;  inas- 
much as  the  individual,  in  the  fully  formed  state,  is  a 

*  This  theory  is  presented  more  fully  in  the  author's  work  en- 
titled "  Vital  Processes  in  Education." 


Theories  of  Development  227 

resultant  of  intrinsic  factors  and  innumerable  extrinsic 
factors,  a  new  formation,  rather  than  a  preformation. 

.It  is  self-evident  that  this  conception  of  development, 
admitting  the  modifying  influence  of  external  forces 
and  relations,  offers  special  inducements  to  pedagogical 
activity.  It  makes  greater  demands  on  the  teacher, 
and  must  have  a  wholesome  influence  in  raising  edu- 
cational standards.  It  immediately  brings  forward 
the  question,  What  are  the  influences  that  should  sur- 
round the  child?  What  are  the  desirable  qualifica- 
tions in  the  teacher;  what  are  the  subjects  best  suited 
to  properly  impress  the  child,  and  what  are  the  best 
methods  of  bringing  the  child  into  proper  relation  to 
his  environment?  In  the  conception  of  development, 
as  proceeding  from  within,  because  of  an  inborn 
hereditary  principle,  and  in  this  conception,  as  a  result- 
ant of  reactions  to  external  forces  and  influences,  lie 
also  involved  the  important  pedagogical  questions  of 
child  interest  and  self -activity. 

The  Social  Theory  of  Development.  The  interaction 
theory  naturally  leads  to  a  consideration  of  social 
phenomena  and  their  relation  to  human  development. 
It  is  claimed  that  man  is  primarily  a  social  being; 
and  that,  in  all  matters  concerning  the  developing 
mind,  its  relation  to  human  society  must  be  duly 
considered.  The  aim  of  education,  it  is  claimed,  is 
good  citizenship;  and  it  is  only  in  human  society, 
under  the  influence  of  social  forces,  that  social  develop- 
ment can  proceed. 

This  view  emphasizes  motor  activity  as  being  essen- 
tial to  a  useful  membership  in  society.  The  ability  to 
do  the  practical  things  of  life  is  supposed  to  be  of 
greater  importance  than  to  know  the  impractical.  It 
is  thought,  too,  that  the  mind  develops  naturally  with 
the  development  of  the  bodily  functions;  that  physical 
development  reacts  on  mental  development,  manual 
dexterity  of  all  kinds  being  of  necessity  closely  depend- 


228          Education  through  Nature 

ent  on  acuteness  of  the  senses  and  on  the  practical 
powers  of  the  mind.  The  pupil  is  taught  to  make 
things,  to  do  things,  and  that  in  the  order  in  which 
these  things  have  been  invented  by  man  in  the  course 
of  history.  Pupils  are  expected  to  prepare  their  own 
food  from  the  raw  materials  which  nature  under  their 
cultivation  is  made  to  yield;  to  make  their  own  gar- 
ments from  fabrics  manufactured  by  them  from  the 
unwashed  fleece;  to  repeat,  in  other  words,  the  eco- 
nomic activities  of  the  race. 

There  is  much  reason  to  suspect  that  this  view  of 
development  is  a  superficial  view  of  the  social  philoso- 
pher trying  to  be  scientific.  It  penetrates  no  farther 
than  human  activities.  Yet  so  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  in 
accord  with  scientific  principles.  It  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  return  to  nature,  but  is  in  reality  only  a  return 
to  primitive  society.  It  does  not  rest  its  claims  on 
biological  laws,  but  rather  on  primitive  social  laws. 
That  such  activity  is  natural  to  the  child  is  evident 
from  its  games. 

Yet  this  theory  has  the  disadvantage  of  suggesting 
low  ideals;  of  being  the  outgrowth  of  the  practical 
spirit  of  our  age;  of  being  in  league  with  that  spirit 
which  places  the  successful  business  man  above  the 
inspired  poet,  and  a  popular  foot-ball  player  above 
the  man  of  science.  There  is  about  it  some  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  kitchen  and  machine-shop  and  a 
spirit  of  the  "over-man"  that  does  not  impress  one  as 
ideal.  Notwithstanding  its  practical  appearance,  it 
is  essentially  artificial,  inasmuch  as  that  law  of  neces- 
sity, which  operated  in  primitive  society,  is  wanting. 
Take  away  that  necessity  which  compels  the  hungry 
savage  to  hunt  his  food,  and  a  little  pretence  at  original 
cooking  is  hardly  better  than  riding  a  broomstick 
instead  of  a  real  horse.  It  is  play. 

The  Humanistic  Standpoint.  The  social  theory  may 
be  regarded  as  the  outgrowth  of  those  new  concep- 


Theories  of  Development 


tions  of  life  which  the  evolution  theory,  in  its  broader 
sense,  has  developed.  With  the  acceptance  of  that 
theory  as  an  explanation  of  human  social  life,  there 
necessarily  follow  new  ethical  conceptions  and  new 
ideals.  The  purely  social  conception  of  the  individual 
tends  to  minimize  his  value  as  an  individual.  He  is 
supposed  to  belong  to  the  race,  owing  all  to  others 
but  nothing  to  himself.  This  is  making  the  individual 
so  social  as  to  rob  him  of  his  birthright  to  individuality 
and  character.  No  room  is  left  for  that  solitude  with 
nature  in  which  talent  unfolds  itself. 

The  humanistic  standpoint  is  diametrically  the  oppo- 
site of  this.  It  lays  all  stress  on  the  ideal,  but  leaves 
no  room  for  the  practical.  Instead  of  useful  activity, 
it  emphasizes  knowledge  and  art.  These  are  assumed 
to  be  social  products;  and  \anguage,  the  sole  means 
of  human  intercourse,  is  taken  to  be  the  only  means 
by  which  knowledge  can  be  acquired.  All  knowledge, 
except  that  of  tradition,  which  has  stood  the  test  of  cen- 
turies, is  regarded  with  suspicion.  Nature,  the  senses, 
and  the  body,  are  considered  vulgar.  The  child  is 
thought  to  be  at  bottom  bad,  and  needs  to  be  regen- 
erated by  that  idealism  which  man,  in  his  social  capac- 
ity, has  developed  by  the  exercise  of  the  higher  spiritual 
faculties.  Ethical  ideas  must  be  inculcated;  and  the 
great  fundamental  truths,  forming  the  basis  of  all 
sound  philosophy  and  the  surest  guarantee  of  the 
permanency  of  civilized  institutions,  must  early  be 
impressed  on  the  plastic  mind  through  the  medium 
of  language.  Memory,  that  faculty  of  the  human 
soul,  must  be  stored  with  the  best  spiritual  fruits  of 
human  culture,  and  a  passive  obedience  to  authority 
assured. 

The  fundamental  assumptions  in  this  conception  of 
development,  if  it  can  be  called  development,  are 
these:  (i)  That  man  is  extranatural;  (2)  that  society 
is  a  purely  human  or  superhuman  invention;  (3)  that 


330       Education  through  Nature 

art  has  no  relation  to  nature ;  (4)  that  social  knowledge 
can  be  transmitted  directly  from  individual  to  individual 
by  means  of  language;  (5)  the  total  depravity  of  the 
child,  and  the  possibility  of  total  regeneration  by 
spiritual  forces;  (6)  that  ethical  ideas  can  be  effective 
when  passively  received;  (7)  that  the  greatest  gener- 
alizations of  which  the  adult  human  mind  is  capable 
can  be  transmitted  directly;  (8)  that  memory  is  a  fac- 
ulty of  a  soul,  having  no  connection  with  the  body,  yet 
capable  of  retaining  verbal  forms  and  comprehending 
their  meaning;  (9)  that  humble  submission  to  authority 
is  a  state  to  be  desired. 

This  can  hardly  be  called  a  theory,  but  rather  a 
program.  No  induction  or  experience  is  appealed  to 
in  substantiation  of  its  feasibility.  Indeed,  it  repudi- 
ates evolution  and  experience  alike,  and  stands  on 
purely  a  priori  and  transcendental  foundations.  It  is 
the  program  of  the  old  education.  It  certainly  has 
a  history.  That  history  is  an  interesting  chapter,  too, 
in  the  annals  of  European  education.  But  it  cannot  be 
related  here.  It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the 
lofty  motives,  while  at  the  same  time  wondering  at 
the  na'ievete  of  the  scheme.  It  is  certainly  free  from 
any  contamination  of  that  modern  science  which  it 
professes  to  abhor.  Yet  it  is  not  even  now  entirely 
obsolete. 

It  has  the  advantage  of  faith  in  things  that  can  be 
imagined,  but  neither  seen  nor  demonstrated;  of 
stating  aims  and  ideals  with  no  laborious  attempts  to 
show  the  probability  of  their  realization.  It  also 
presumes  to  appeal  to  the  history  of  the  past,  and 
cannot  be  accused  of  anything  but  conservatism.  It 
is  the  old  humanism,  the  program  of  that  culture 
which  has  nothing  to  admire  so  much  as  its  own  self. 
It  is  the  natural  program  of  all  those  teachers  who 
jump  at  conclusions,  with  no  effort  to  establish  those 
Conclusions  by  laborious  research;  who,  with  an  un- 


Theories  of  Development  231 

sophisticated  naivete,  do  not  realize  that  they  them- 
selves have  had  a  history,  and  were  not  always  as 
they  now  are. 

The  humanistic  standpoint  is  at  bottom  human 
pride.  It  has  an  element  of  contempt  for  everything 
outside  itself.  There  is  a  suggestive  connection 
between  humanism  in  this  form  and  a  Chinese  wall. 
So  far  as  that  human  pride  is  based  on  high  ideals,  it 
may  spur  the  race  onward;  but  certainly  not  before 
the  gates  in  the  wall  (eyes)  have  been  opened.  Hu- 
manism is  apt  to  lack  that  intellectual  honesty  which 
alone  can  give  permanent  value  to  the  products  of 
the  human  mind;  for  it  merely  asserts  dogmatically, 
with  no  honest  effort  to  guard  against  possible  error 
or  even  to  justify  its  standpoint.  The  history  of 
Oriental  peoples  as  well  as  the  history  of  Europe  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages,  when  humanism  held  sway, 
shows  how  far  its  professed  ideals  fail  of  realization. 
Craft,  cunning,  deceit,  fraud,  like  concealed  weapons, 
were  everywhere  associated  with  even  the  ermine  and 
gold  embroidery  of  the  highest  respectability. 

The  Recapitulation  Theory.  Biologists,  in  studying 
different  forms  of  animal  life,  find  that  their  form  and 
structure  bear  certain  resemblances  to  one  another, 
especially  within  certain  groups  or  types.  A  gradual 
transition  from  one  of  these  types  to  another  is  also 
noticeable.  Such  similarity  of  structure  is  interesting 
to  the  scientific  student,  because  it  points  to  a  possible 
relationship  between  different  groups. 

Arranging  such  organisms  according  to  their  simi- 
larity and  differences,  a  series  presents  itself,  showing 
a  gradual  differentiation  from  the  simpler  to  the  more 
complex.  The  distinguished  embryologist,  von  Baer, 
1828,  in  studying  the  development  of  the  chick  from 
the  egg  up,  found,  on  comparing  it  at  different  periods 
of  embryonic  development  with  forms  in  the  series 
above  referred  to,  that  a  striking  similarity  exists 


232  Education  through  Nature 

between  the  different  phases  of  development  in  the 
chick  and  the  grades  of  organization  in  that  series. 
Thus  he  found  that,  (i)  the  chick  at  first  resembled  a 
protozoon  in  that  it  was  a  single  cell;  (2)  as  develop- 
ment progressed  it  assumed  the  two-layered  condition 
of  the  hydra  or  ccelenterate  stage;  (3)  later  it  became 
more  or  less  bilaterally  symmetrical,  but  soft-bodied 
like  an  oyster;  (4)  then  transverse  divisions  made  their 
appearance,  suggesting  the  segmentation  of  worms 
and  arthropods;  (5)  and,  finally,  it  bore  some  re- 
semblance to  a  fish,  an  amphibian,  a  reptile,  etc. 
From  these  observations  it  has  been  concluded  that, 
during  embryonic  development,  higher  animals  pass 
through  more  or  less  completely  all  the  lower  stages, — 
that,  in  other  words,  the  history  of  the  individual  is  a 
repetition  or  recapitulation  of  the  history  of  the  race 
of  organisms  to  which  it  belongs. 

Students  of  human  development  were  not  slow  to 
recognize  in  the  activities  of  a  developing  youth  some 
tendencies  which  recall  the  various  culture  epochs  of 
the  race.  Thus,  (i)  the  infant  at  first  walks  on  "all 
fours,"  and  .is  apt  to  take  his  nourishment  wherever 
he  finds  it;  (2)  he  often  betrays  special  fondness  for 
straying  about  idly  among  natural  objects;  (3)  he  is 
fond  of  fishing  and  hunting;  (4)  he  is  often  fond  of 
pet  animals,  likes  to  ride  on  horseback,  and  to  hitch 
his  dog  to  a  cart;  (5)  he  is  often  passionately  fond  of 
feeling  mother  earth  with  bare  feet,  likes  to  dig  in 
the  soil,  plant  trees,  and  drive  a  team  to  market; 
(6)  later,  he  often  has  a  passionate  desire  to  leave 
these  early  haunts  for  the  busy  life  of  the  large  city, 
etc.,  precisely  as  we  have  seen  the  race  develop  from 
its  primitive  beginning  to  the  highly  complex  social 
life  of  large  social  centers. 

The  psychologist,  too,  finds  many  points  of  simi- 
larity between  the  development  of  intellectual  life  in  the 
individual  and  in  the  race.  Thus,  the  youth  is  (i) 


Theories  of  Development  233 

fickle-minded,  easily  moved  by  feelings,  and  appar- 
ently guided  more  by  instinct  than  by  reason;  (2)  chil- 
dren are  often  untruthful  as  savages  are;   (3)  they  may 
steal  as  savages  do ;   (4)  they  do  not  know  how  to  value 
property  or  how  to  take  care  of  it;    (5)  they  are  apt  to 
be  vulgar,  disobedient,  and  pugnacious  as  savages  are; 
(6)   they  pass   through   a   dreamy  period   of  mental 
evolution  corresponding  to  that  of  the  Arab  tending 
his  herds    and  brooding  vaguely  over  the  causes  of 
things;    (7)  they  have  a  period  of  awakening  when 
they   show   strong   resemblances   to   those   emotional 
religious  states  of  primitive  people;    (8)  they  seem  to 
have,  (a)  their  age  of  faith,  (6)  their  age  of  scepticism, 
(c)  their  metaphysical  stage,  when  even  the  ultimate 
problems  of  existence  do  not  escape  their  retiring  and 
introspective  minds;    (9)  and,  finally,  they  have  their 
age  of  reason  and  exact  observation  of  phenomena. 
It  has  often  been  remarked,  also,  that  just  as  nations 
and  races  have  their  period  of  maximum  intellectual 
life,  followed  by  senile  degeneration  and  decay,   so, 
too,  does  the  individual  pass  into  his  second  childhood. 
This   recapitulation   theory   has   been   adopted   by 
the  new  pedagogy  as  one  of  its  most  fundamental 
postulates.     It  certainly  explains  many  things  about 
the  developing   individual  which   could    be   compre- 
hended in  no  other  way.     It  is  not  necessary  to  sup- 
pose that  the  recapitulation  is  absolutely  complete.     It 
is  not  so  in  embryological  development,  and  need  not 
be  so  in  these  culture  periods  of  the  individual's  history. 

VI.  Intellectual  Development. 

Stages  in  the  Development  of  Thought.  Man's  eco- 
nomic development  is  very  closely  associated  with  his 
intellectual  development;  and  the  economic  stages  ' 
enumerated  in  Part  I,  Section  II,  are  a  fair  index  of 
corresponding  intellectual  stages.  For  man's  activi- 
ties are  determined  by  natural  conditions  on  the  one 


234          Education  through  Nature 

hand,  and  by  his  mental  life  on  the  other.  This  is 
what  we  should  expect  from  that  universal  law  of 
action  and  reaction,  the  interaction  of  mind  and  body, 
and  the  interaction  of  man  and  the  external  world. 
Man  thinks  the  thoughts  of  nature;  and  by  so  doing 
is  able  to  modify  nature.  But  this  is  true  chiefly  in 
the  higher  stages,  when  man  has  learned  to  know 
nature. 

Even  in  the  earliest  culture  epochs  that  we  know 
anything  about,  there  is  evidence  of  a  consciousness, 
on  the  part  of  man,  that  he  is  in  the  midst  of  forces 
which  he  cannot  control;  and  hence  a  certain  rever- 
ence for  nature  can  be  discovered,  which  reveals  itself 
in  the  worship  of  objects  and  elements.  Besides, 
primitive  language  is  figurative,  showing  how  nature 
is  personified.  Primitive  man  often  seems  to  project 
his  own  inner  feelings  into  external  nature,  and  to  endow 
it  with  various  imaginary  attributes  which  it  does  not 
possess.  In  this  respect  he  is  much  like  the  timid 
girl  in  the  dark  night,  who  imagines  she  hears  voices, 
sees  faces,  and  feels  the  breath  of  ghosts  and  phantoms. 

These  early  relations  to  nature  contain  the  germs 
of  future  philosophic  and  religious  systems.  Philoso- 
phy and  religion,  both  dealing  with  the  problems  of 
the  non-ego,  are  at  first  intimately  associated,  but 
are  later  separated  into  distinct  systems,  knowing 
and  feeling  being  more  distinctly  differentiated. 

i.  The  earliest  philosophy  seems  to  center  in  the 
problem  of  existence  in  general.  Such  problems  as 
that  of  the  essence  of  matter  and  force,  their  relations 
to  space  and  time,  and,  finally,  the  relation  of  all 
existence  to  the  absolute  and  infinite,  are  the  problems 
of  primitive  speculation  of  the  race,  no  less  than  of 
the  juvenile  philosopher. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  much  real  experience 
with  nature  had  been  active  in  producing  these  abstract 
general  speculations.  Otherwise  one  might  be  forced 


Theories  of  Development  235 

to  believe  that  the  general  appeals  to  the  human  mind 
earlier  than  does  the  particular.  The  experience,  which 
really  lay  at  the  bottom  of  this  abstract  speculation, 
had  been  unconscious,  in  so  far  as  no  conscious  attempt 
at  systematic  study  of  nature  had  been  made. 

2.  Wearied  by  these   futile   attempts  to   solve  the 
ultimate  problems  of  existence,  a  few  vigorous  thinkers, 
like  Bacon,  Hobbs,  Locke,  began  to  call  for  a  return 
to  nature  even  in  matters  of  thought;   very  much  as  a 
highly   artificial   social   system   had   called   forth   the 
same  general  appeal. 

The  result  was  a  shifting  of  philosophical  inquiry, 
from  the  purely  metaphysical  questions  of  existence, 
in  general,  to  the  problems  of  knowledge.  How 
much  can  a  mind,  constituted  as  the  finite  human  mind 
is,  positively  know  concerning  those  ultimate  prob- 
lems? Can  a  complex  system  of  logic,  whereby  the 
mind  builds  up  a  world  of  subjective  reality,  definitely 
solve  the  problem  of  external  reality?  Attention  was 
thus  turned  to  the  human  mind  itself. 

3.  As  could  be  expected,  the   method    of   psycho- 
logical study  was  that  of  introspection  alone.      Con- 
sciousness was  considered;    and,  under  the  influence 
of  the  notion  of  free  will,  was  thought  to  be  some- 
thing other  and  higher  than  any  attribute  of  matter, 
and  capable  of  an  independent  development.     A  sub- 
jective idealism  was  thus  developed  which  not  only 
regarded  ideas  as  inborn  or  innate,  but  which  even 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  value  of  sense  impressions. 

4.  A  reaction  to  the  intuitive,  metaphysical,  and  ideal- 
istic psychology  made  its  appearance  simultaneously 
with  important  advances  in  biological  science.     The 
study   of   development    of    organic   beings   not    only 
showed   that   the   existence   of  inborn  ideas  was  an 
absurdity,  but  that  a  considerable  period  of  develop- 
ment precedes  the  appearance  of  those  general  ideas 
thought  to  be  inborn.     It  was  Locke  who  first  sug- 


236          Education  through  Nature 

gested  the  idea  that  the  human  mind  is  originally  a 
tabula  rasa,  i.e.,  a  tablet  on  which  anything  can  be 
written,  through  the  influence  of  the  external  world 
acting  on  the  sense-organs.  With  the  further  develop- 
ment of  scientific  methods,  the  new  psychology  made 
its  appearance. 

THE  OLD  PSYCHOLOGY  was  the  product  of  human- 
ism. As  studied  in  schools  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago, 
it  consisted  in  committing  to  memory  some  one'so  pin- 
ions about  things  in  general,  so  far  as  those  opinions 
could  be  gathered  from  a  book.  In  fact,  nothing  was 
worth  the  while  which  had  not  been  incorporated  into 
a  book.  Bookishness  was  a  necessary  concomitant 
of  slavish  reliance  on  authority.  The  authority  might 
have  had  some  just  claims  to  recognition,  as  such,  if 
the  conclusions  reached  had  been  based  on  a  syste- 
matic study  of  even  human  history;  but  that  was  not, 
then,  the  method  of  psychological  study.  Mere  intro- 
spection, an  examination  of  an  individual  conscious- 
ness, could  give,  at  best,  the  candid  personal  conviction 
of  any  individual  who  had  the  courage  to  assert  his 
opinions  as  ultimate  truths.  Thus  we  had  this  man's 
psychology  and  that  man's  psychology,  not  a  psychol- 
ogy as  we  have  a  science. 

The  idea  of  growth  and  development  in  mind  or 
in  nature  was  not  a  part  of  the  old  scheme.  Things 
were  taken  for  granted  as  having  always  been  as  they 
now  are.  The  psychologist,  finding  certain  general 
conceptions  already  in  his  mind,  did  not  stop  to  in- 
quire how  those  ideas  had  originated,  or  whether  they 
had  originated;  but  assumed,  without  further  inquiry 
or  comparison  with  other  living  beings,  that  they  have 
always  been  present  and  are,  in  fact,  innate  or  inborn. 
These  ideas  were  supposed  to  belong  to  certain  facul- 
ties of  the  mind.  Thus,  reason  was  considered  one 
separate  department  of  the  mind,  and  was  supposed 
to  supply  the  general  notions  of  time,  space,  cause, 


Theories  of  Development  237 

right,  truth,  beauty,  existence,  number,  resemblance, 
spontaneity,  and  the  infinite.  The  brain  and  nervous 
system  were  given  little  or  no  attention  in  these  dis- 
cussions. It  is  perhaps  safe  to  say  that  not  a  few  of 
the  authors  who  thus  laid  claim  to  authority  in  these 
metaphysical  speculations  had  never  seen  a  nerve; 
nor  would  they  have  been  able  to  distinguish,  visually, 
between  the  pineal  gland  and  the  vermiform  appendix. 

The  general  idea  being  given  at  birth,  particular 
ideas,  arising  later  in  experience,  were  thought  to 
be  only  special  manifestations  of  the  general.  Thus  a 
horse  was  thought  to  be  recognized  before  the  horse; 
the  genus  before  the  species.  In  many  cases  this 
was  carried  so  far  as  to  assert  that  only  the  general 
idea,  as  existing  in  the  mind,  was  real,  all  external 
phenomena  being  mere  illusions. 

The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  old  psychol- 
ogy was  neither  modesty  nor  common  sense.  Indeed, 
the  audacity  of  the  intuitive  psychologist  in  dogmatic- 
ally affirming  direct  knowledge  of  the  ultimate  ele- 
ments of  existence  by  a  mind  professing  no  material 
connection  with  that  existence,  and  independently  of 
any  external  experience  through  the  senses,  suggests 
that  arrested  development  which  isolation  invariably 
produces.  A  professor  in  one  of  our  foremost  univer- 
sities has  somewhat  caustically  characterized  it  as  the 
"arm-chair  psychology."  The  laboratory,  and  the 
labor  involved  in  sifting  truth  from  falsehood,  are  both 
equally  conspicuous  for  their  absence.  It  eschews 
alike  the  efforts  of  the  practical  world,  the  common 
sense  of  humanity,  and  the  accumulated  experience  of 
the  race,  as  embodied  in  organic  changes,  social  evo- 
lution, and  systematized  knowledge  or  science. 

Although  the  old  psychology  did  not  distinctly 
recognize  the  evolution  principle,  it  is  logically  the 
counterpart  of  that  .view  of  development  which  regards 
things  as  performed — evolution,  in  its  restricted  form 


238  Education  through  Nature 

of  Neo- Darwinism.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Wallace,  the  chief  exponent  of  Neo- Darwinism,  does 
not  include  man  in  his  scheme  of  evolution. 

THE  NEW  PSYCHOLOGY  differs  from  the  old,  in  (a) 
its  conclusions;  (ft)  in  the  method  pursued  in  reaching 
those  conclusions;  and  (c)  in  its  universality.  The  new 
psychology  has  the  characteristics  of  science,  in  so  far 
as  it  is  not  a  one  man's  psychology,  but  a  psychology 
of  all  men.  Its  method  is  that  of  science;  namely, 
observation  and  experiment.  The  psychological  labo- 
ratory, with  its  apparatus  for  testing  sense-organs, 
nerve  stimuli,  and  the  effects  of  nervous  fatigue  on  the 
various  mental  manifestations  of  different  individuals, 
are  characteristic  of  its  method. 

It  seeks  the  material  for  its  conclusions  in  all  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  especially  the  biological  sciences, 
physiology,  neurology,  and  uses  the  methods  of  these 
sciences  in  the  investigation  of  mental  phenomena. 
Thus  the  psychologist  is  not  now  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  laws  of  life  as  manifested  in  lower  organisms. 
Animal  instincts  are  recognized  and  studied  with  a 
view  to  their  possible  connection  with  mental  mani- 
festations in  the  child.  Development,  both  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  in  the  race,  as  shown  in  history  and  litera- 
ture, is  recognized  as  an  important  factor  in  mental 
evolution,  and  used  as  an  aid  in  interpreting  mental 
phenomena  and  in  discovering  the  origin  and  activity 
of  mind. 

The  fundamental  fact  which  the  new  psychology 
has  emphasized  is  the  elementary  character  of  sensa- 
tion as  arising  from  nervous  action.  Stimuli,  acting 
on  the  end  organs,  the  senses,  or  other  stimuli  arising 
from  physiological  changes  in  the  tissues  of  the  body, 
are  transmitted  to  the  central  nervous  system,  where, 
by  the  activity  of  the  cortical  centers  of  the  gray  matter 
of  the  brain,  these  sensations  are  associated  by  simul- 
taneous or  successive  nervous  discharges  of  cortical 


Theories  of  Development  239 

cells  into  perceptions  and  associated  ideas.  Thus  it  is 
found  that  sensation  gives  rise  to  perceptions;  these 
in  turn  blend  in  consciousness  into  simple  ideas  of 
particular  things.  Simple  or  particular  ideas  blend, 
by  association,  into  more  complex  or  general  ideas,  which 
may  be  abstracted  from  the  original  sensations  after 
the  brain  centers  have  acquired  that  power  of  nervous 
discharge  which  seems  to  come  through  repetition  of 
external  impressions.  Hence  general  ideas,  instead 
of  being  inborn  or  innate,  are  supposed  to  originate 
from  the  simpler  particular  ideas. 

This  entire  process  may  take  place  very  rapidly 
during  the  first  years  or  even  weeks  of  life,  so  that  the 
process  is  largely  an  unconscious  one  at  first.  Sub- 
conscious mental  states  are  thought  to  exist;  the 
organic  life,  it  is  believed,  ministers  to  the  whole 
conscious  life  of  the  mind.  The  lower  ganglia  of  the 
brain  may  be  concerned  in  purely  reflex  or  automatic 
acts  without  being  accompanied  by  consciousness; 
or,  on  other  occasions,  they  may  serve  as  relays  of 
nerve  energy,  by  which  the  cortical  cells  may  be  aroused 
to  activity.  Thus  the  higher  proceeds  from  the  lower, 
just  as  the  simple  ganglia  of  the  jellyfish  may  be  a 
step  in  the  evolution  of  the  nervous  system  of  higher 
animals.  The  complex  brain  arises  from  the  union 
of  many  simple  nerve-cells  or  neurons,  just  as  the 
general  idea  is  supposed  to  arise  from  the  union  of 
simple  ones,  the  original  elements  of  those  simple 
ideas  being  sensations. 

Now,  the  nervous  system  and  sense-organs  are  parts 
of  the  body,  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  health  and 
disease  as  are  other  bodily  organs.  The  nervous 
system,  with  which  the  mind  is  associated,  is  par- 
ticularly susceptible  to  changes  of  all  kinds;  and  is, 
therefore,  well  adapted  to  receive  impressions  of  all 
those  changes,  both  in  the  body  and  in  the  external 
worJd,  which  occasion  mental  states.  Variations  in 


240  Education  through  Nature 

the  blood  supply  and  in  the  amount  and  character  of 
other  elements  of  the  blood  supplying  the  brain 
quickly  influence  not  only  the  character  but  the  rapid- 
ity of  thought.  Acuteness  of  sensation,  involving  not 
only  perfect  sense-organs,  but  a  healthy  central  nervous 
system,  is,  therefore,  an  essential  condition  to  mental 
development,  inasmuch  as  it  furnishes  the  material 
of  thought. 

To  avoid  metaphysical  difficulties,  many  psycholo- 
gists assume  a  parallelism  between  mental  and  physical 
states,  without  affirming  any  causal  connection  between 
them.  It  is  found,  for  instance,  that  the  mind  may 
influence  the  body,  as  in  voluntary  acts  of  all  kinds. 
A  reciprocal  action  thus  exists  which  may,  perhaps, 
mean  the  interaction  of  the  nervous  system  and 
organs,  as  the  muscles.  This  is  no  less  true  of  other 
organs  of  the  body,  for  the  stomach  may  influence 
the  body,  and  may,  in  turn,  be  influenced  by  it.  Such 
interaction  between  parts  of  an  organized  body  is  a 
biological  fact  which  nobody  disputes. 

This  view  of  psychology  must  lead  to  a  recognition 
of  the  physical  and  vital  factors  in  mental  processes. 
Evidently  introspection,  or  the  exclusive  study  of 
consciousness,  as  it  appears  in  the  adult,  can  afford 
no  absolute  criterion  of  truth  in  all  intellectual  matters. 
It  must  be  supplemented  by  objective  reality,  for  that 
is  the  condition  and  occasion  of  mental  processes. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  assumed  that  the  external 
factor  alone  can  account  for  the  content  of  conscious- 
ness. There  is  in  the  central  nervous  system  a  capacity 
to  react  to  external  impressions ;  and  this  capacity  must 
be  sought  in  protoplasmic  organization  of  a  primitive 
type,  in  which  reside  the  forces  of  heredity. 

Mind,  having  its  beginning  in  comparatively  simple 
reactions  to  stimuli  of  all  kinds,  is  found  to  grow  and 
develop  as  the  body  and  especially  the  nervous  system 
grows  and  develops;  and,  just  as  the  body  requires 


Theories  of  Development  241 

nourishment  and  exercise,  so  does  the  mind.  This 
development  is  a  continuous  one,  though  the  rate  of 
development  may  proceed  more  or  less  rapidly  at  dif- 
ferent times. 

The  equal  development  of  mind  and  body  is  normal. 
The  unusual  development  of  either,  especially  a  pre- 
cocious development  of  the  mind,  is  now  looked  upon 
as  abnormal  and  as  unfavorable  to  the  attainment  of 
the  highest  results.  A  healthy  mind  presupposes  a 
healthy  body;  and,  just  as  the  body  is  strengthened 
by  being  exercised  in  moving  external  objects  and 
taking  in  food,  so  the  mind  is  strengthened  by  that 
activity  which  the  response  to  a  varied  external  world 
involves. 

Manifestly,  this  view  of  the  mind,  as  being  the 
result  of  slow  growth  from  those  primitive  begin- 
nings of  simple  reactions  to  sense  stimuli,  is  a  repudia- 
tion of  the  fundamental  assumptions  of  the  old  psy- 
chology. But  the  old  psychology  was  a  part  of  the 
humanistic  system.  The  new  psychology  reverses, 
therefore,  the  conclusions  on  which  humanism  as  an 
educational  influence  was  based.  It  assumes:  (i) 
Man  develops  according  to  natural  law;  (2)  society 
cannot  be  wholly  a  purely  human  invention;  (3)  art 
must  have  its  origin  and  foundation  in  nature;  (4) 
social  knowledge  cannot  be  transmitted  directly  by 
means  of  language;  (5)  the  child  is  totally  depraved 
only  in  the  sense  that  it  is  devoid  of  artifice,  or  is 
natural;  it  can  be  regenerated,  acquire  this  art,  only 
by  a  process  of  slow  growth,  in  which,  by  a  laborious 
process  of  self -activity,  it  attains  to  that  freedom  by 
which  spiritual  forces  become  operative;  (6)  ethical 
ideas  can  be  effective  only  when  they  have  been  opera- 
tive in  shaping  his  being  according  to  high  ideals; 
when,  in  other  words,  ethics  has  become  constitutional, 
so  to  speak;  (7)  the  greatest  generalizations,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  idea  of  evolution,  cannot  be  transmitted 


242          Education  through  Nature 

directly,  but  must  be  achieved  by  a  process  of  slow 
growth  and  laborious  mental  effort;  (8)  that  memory 
is  largely  organic,  and  the  result  of  experience  in 
modifying  the  reactions  of  protoplasm;  (9)  that  a 
gradual  emancipation  from  authority,  the  sure  even 
though  slow  winning  of  freedom,  is  a  consummation  to 
be  desired. 

Original  and  Borrowed  Ideas.  The  old  psychology 
was  primarily  an  attempt  to  vindicate  the  humanistic 
standpoint.  One  conspicuous  feature  of  it  was  its 
bookishness.  Bookishness  means  authority. 

The  man  who  aspired  to  authority  was  usually 
he  who  could  borrow  most  from  others.  Hence  the 
whole  system  became  one  of  borrowed  ideas.  New 
books  were  only  old  books  rewritten.  The  test  of  a 
good  book  was  that  it  pay  due  respect  to  tradition. 
Herein  lay  the  danger;  for  it  closed  the  avenues  to 
progress,  as  it  closed  the  mind  to  new  truths.  He 
who  ventured  to  utter  ideas  not  conforming  to  this 
test  was  declared  a  heretic;  hence  additional  induce- 
ment was  extended  to  the  borrower,  and  considerable 
prestige  was  thus  secured  by  the  very  ones  who  least 
deserved  it,  with  due  allowance  for  conservatism  in 
even  the  original  thinker.  The  struggle  for  existence 
thus  resulted  in  the  survival  of  the  weakest,  the  depend- 
ents, rather  than  the  strongest,  those  capable  of  self- 
help.  Thus  again  was  the  law  of  nature  reversed. 
The  original  thinker,  the  one  who  had  knowledge  at 
first  hand,  was  often  made  the  victim  of  persecutions; 
and  the  parasite,  who  merely  conformed  to  the  authori- 
ties of  the  past,  was  made  his  master  and  his  mentor. 
Herein  lay  the  secret  of  that  inevitable  decay  which 
such  artificial  systems  engender. 

But  what  are  original  and  what  are  borrowed  ideas  ? 
The  German  poet,  Schiller,  has  uttered  these  words: 
"  Dost  thou  aspire  to  the  highest  and  the  noblest,  the 
plant  can  teach  it  thee.  What  it  is,  involuntarily,  be 


Theories  of  Development  243 

thou,  voluntarily;  that's  it!"  You  say,  I  do  not 
understand  Mr.  Schiller;  but,  as  he  was  a  great  man, 
it  must  be  true.  You  therefore  commit  those  words 
to  memory,  with  or  without  understanding  them. 
That  is  a  borrowed  thought.  Now,  on  the  other 
hand,  you  may  say  that  Mr.  Schiller  is  either  right  or 
wrong  in  this  matter,  because  it  conforms  or  does  not 
conform  to  your  own  experience.  In  either  case  it 
is  an  original  idea,  because  the  result  of  your  own 
reflection  on  the  elements  of  personal  experience. 
What  Schiller  probably  meant,  in  this  case,  was,  that 
the  highest  wisdom  is  gained  from  contact  with  nature, 
as  in  the  observation  and  study  of  a  plant. 

Ideas  gained  thus,  from  personal  contact  with  the 
thing  itself,  are  of  necessity  our  ideas,  because  devel- 
oped in  the  natural  way  from  the  primitive  elements 
of  sensation.  Such  ideas  are  a  part  of  our  own  being; 
and,  as  such,  are  important  factors  in  our  mental 
life;  while  those  merely  borrowed  and  retained  in 
memory,  as  verbal  symbols,  may  be  of  no  value  to 
us,  since  they  vanish  from  memory  at  the  time  when 
they  are  most  needed.  The  words  right  and  wrong 
may  fail  to  come  to  us  when  in  that  agitated  state  of 
mind  resulting  from  injury  by  a  fellow  being,  and 
when  ethical  considerations  are  especially  desirable. 

Origin  of  Language.  Written  languages  are  the 
traces  of  motor  activity.  Articulate  speech  results 
from  co-ordinated  contractions  of  such  muscles  as 
those  of  the  diaphragm,  intercostals,  throat,  tongue, 
cheeks,  and  lips.  These  muscular  contractions,  like 
those  of  the  limbs,  are  due  to  nervous  impulses  arising 
in  the  brain,  or  reflected  by  it  from  other  internal 
organs. 

In  the  infant,  vital  processes  are  very  active  in  all 
the  organs,  and  this  activity  involves  active  nutrition. 
Hunger  is  felt  as  a  natural  consequence  of  growth 
and  waste  of  the  body.  Consciously  or  unconsciously, 


244  Education  through  Nature 

this  hunger  gives  rise  to  movements  of  the  body,  the 
vague  unco-ordinated  attempts  to  appease  the  hunger 
and  restore  the  equilibrium  of  the  body.  The  natural 
desire  for  food,  the  primitive  want  seeking  satisfaction, 
may  result  in  movements  of  limbs  or  in  movements 
of  the  vocal  organs. 

It  is  perhaps  true  that  those  organs  whose  activity 
involves  least  expenditure  of  energy,  are  least  fatiguing 
in  other  words,  will  be  the  ones  that  naturally  become 
active.  This  selection  of  the  least  fatiguing  is  not 
necessarily  a  conscious  or  a  deliberate  choice,  any 
more  than  the  natural  selection  of  the  fittest  is  a  con- 
scious act  on  the  part  of  environment.  Thus  it  comes 
to  pass  that  the  first  movements  of  the  limbs  are 
abandoned,  and  the  less  fatiguing  activity  of  the  vocal 
organs  adopted. 

At  first  the  unco-ordinated  action  of  those  muscles  of 
the  vocal  organs  results  in  that  discordant  noise,  the 
infant's  cry.  The  cry  is  the  expression  of  physical 
states,  possibly  wants  affecting  consciousness.  If 
such  a  cry  serves  its  purpose — the  removal  of  uneasi- 
ness, the  satisfaction  of  its  wants — the  cry  will  be  se- 
lected as  the  fittest  means  of  satisfying  wants. 

The  original  movements,  resembling  gestures  and 
later  the  cry,  are  the  first  indications  of  dawning 
consciousness,  the  first  sign  of  ideas.  So  far  as  these 
simple  signs  of  ideas  serve  to  satisfy  the  want  which 
gave  rise  to  them,  they  may  be  called  a  medium  of 
communication,  the  first  beginnings  of  language. 
Such  primitive  modes  of  expression  of  ideas  or  feel- 
ings for  the  satisfaction  of  wants  are  common  to  the 
lower  animals,  to  primitive  man  in  the  lowest  savage 
state,  and  to  the  infant  of  the  most  highly  civilized 
races. 

It  is  important  to  notice  that  the  want,  or  the  idea 
of  a  desire,  is  present  in  consciousness  before  the  sign 
of  that  idea  appears;  also,  that  the  sign  may  vary 


•^r      V*  *  *  »«    r    ^^^ 

U  OF  THE     ' 

•   UNIVERSITY  ) 

Theories  of  Development  245 

according  to  convenience  or  ease  in  making  the  sign. 
as  well  as  according  to  what  is  necessary  to  have  the 
sign  understood  and  the  want  satisfied. 

We  have  here  an  important  explanation  of  the 
perplexing  question  as  to  how  teleological  adapta- 
tions arise.  Manifestly,  if  there  is  a  consciousness 
back  of  this  useful  adaptation  to  a  purpose,  it  is  a 
consciousness  governed  by  the  same  natural  law  as 
that  leading  to  the  same  results  in  lower  forms. 

Articulate  speech  is  a  further  differentiation  and 
specialization  of  the  original  cry.  Variety  of  feelings, 
variety  of  sensations,  variety  of  wants,  and  variety  of 
ideas,  require  greater  variety  in  the  vocal  utterance; 
and,  consequently,  increased  modification  of  the  vocal 
organs,  giving  rise  to  a  succession  of  vocal  impulses 
or  sound  complexes.  Hence  we  find,  both  in  the  in- 
dividual and  in  the  race,  that  language  becomes  more 
and  more  complex  and  specialized. 

Sounds  are  first  combined  into  monosyllables,  as 
in  the  word  ma  and  pa.  How  do  these  arise?  In 
the  first  place,  they  result  from  the  simplest  combina- 
tion of  the  vocal  organs,  and  are,  therefore,  least 
fatiguing.  If  the  infant  finds  all  his  wants  attended 
to  by  a  mere  cry,  the  chances  are  he  will  continue  to 
express  his  wants  in  that  way,  as  is  usually  the  case 
with  the  spoiled  baby.  If,  however,  he  finds  that 
this  does  not  bring  about  the  desired  end,  he  may 
adopt  other  means;  in  fact,  a  variety  of  ways  of  ex- 
pressing himself  until  he  hits  upon  some  combination 
of  sounds  that  is  effective.  If  the  child  finds  that  the 
sound  ma  has  the  effect  of  bringing  its  mother  to 
attend  to  its  wants,  that  particular  signal  will  continue 
to  be  given  whenever  "ma"  is  wanted.  The  word 
"ma"  is  therefore  equivalent  to  a  whole  sentence; 
and  has  not  been  learned  by  imitation,  as  is  usually 
supposed.  The  ease  of  utterance,  and  its  effectiveness 
in  bringing  about  the  desired  results,  is  the  sole  reason 


246  Education  through  Nature 

for  its  retention.  It  would  not  be  effective,  however, 
unless  the  mother  knew  what  "ma"  means.  It  is 
useful,  therefore  it  is  selected;  very  much  as  the  co- 
ordinated contractions  of  certain  muscles  of  the  arm 
are  useful  in  bringing  food  to  the  mouth;  and,  conse- 
quently, selected,  while  other  muscular  combinations; 
not  producing  useful  results,  are  eliminated.  It  is 
essentially  in  the  same  way  that  the  child  learns  to 
walk. 

Speech  is  a  form  of  co-ordinated  muscular  contrac- 
tions, adopted  because  of  its  utility  to  the  organism. 
But  how  does  this  speech  become  adapted  to  the 
environment?  Precisely  as  other  adaptations  have 
arisen.  In  America,  the  child,  wanting  its  thirst  sat- 
isfied, finds  that  certain  combinations  of  sounds, 
watery  suffice;  in  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  a  dif- 
ferent combination  produces  the  same  effect,  namely, 
Wasser.  So  far  as  the  child  is  concerned,  it  makes  no 
difference  which  word  is  used.  It  adopts  that  com- 
bination of  sounds  which  is  effective  in  bringing  about 
desired  results;  and,  consequently,  comes  to  use  the 
language  of  those  with  whom  it  associates. 

Now  this  explains  the  origin  of  language  as  a  whole. 
Language  is  not  borrowed;  it  is  invented  at  first.  It 
is  invented,  too,  because  of  the  existence  of  an  idea 
in  the  mind,  not  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  ideas.  A 
boat  is  invented  because  of  a  desire  to  cross  a  body 
of  water  dry  shod.  So  language  is  invented  to  satisfy 
wants;  and,  just  as  the  boat  is  adapted  to  the  medium, 
so  the  language  invented  will  be  English  in  England 
and  German  in  Germany.  An  Italian,  calling  on 
Patrick  Murphy  for  work  on  the  railroad,  makes  all 
those  signs  which  he  thinks  necessary  to  make  Patrick 
comprehend.  If  Patrick  calls  on  the  Italian  the  proc- 
ess will  be  reversed;  for  Patrick  now  has  the  wants 
that  are  to  be  communicated,  the  result  being  broken 
Italian  instead  of  broken  Irish.  Thus  an  amalgama- 


Theories  of  Development  247 

tion  or  agglomeration  of  the  two  languages  may  result 
by  a  process  similar  to  that  which  has  formed  our 
modern  English. 

Language  must,  therefore,  necessarily  grow  in  pro- 
portion as  the  environment  becomes  more  and  more 
complex.  The  environment  of  each  of  us  becomes 
complex  in  proportion  as  we  fix  attention  upon  all 
the  phases  of  this  environment,  and  our  ideas  in- 
crease in  number  according  as  we  come  in  contact 
with  more  and  more  things.  Seeing  the  "centro- 
some"  in  the  egg  of  Ascaris  megalocephala,  made 
necessary  the  invention  of  the  new  word  centra- 
some  to  designate  the  new  idea  gained.  The  idea 
came  first;  and  created  a  need  for  a  name,  which 
was  promptly  invented.  Special  experiences  with  dif- 
ferent phases  of  nature  cause  special  needs  to  arise 
for  means  of  labeling,  classifying,  identifying,  and 
communicating  those  experiences,  and  this  results 
in  technical  or  scientific  language.  Our  ideas  must 
correspond  to  our  experiences ;  and  hence  our  language 
must  acquire  that  special  characteristic  also.  Thus  a 
sailor  has  his  language;  a  railroad  man  his;  no  less 
technical  than  that  of  the  man  of  science.  If  we 
assume  species  to  arise  from  experience,  then  we 
should  not  be  surprised  to  find  among  human  beings 
different  species,  having  their  own  specific  language; 
and,  as  there  are  varieties  of  living  things,  so  there 
must  be  varieties  (dialects)  also  in  language.  We 
may  say,  therefore,  that  language  grows,  changes, 
but  only  because  the  living  being  whose  product  it  is, 
grows  and  changes.  Now  this  growth  and  change 
is  due  to  a  more  varied  and  complex  experience.  It 
is  this,  consequently,  which  leads  to  that  specializa- 
tion and  differentiation,  suggesting  species  and  varie- 
ties, on  the  one  hand,  and  specialized  human  charac- 
teristics and  human  activities  on  the  other.  Lan- 
guage is  not  something  floating  around  in  the  air, 


248  Education  through  Nature 

freighted  with  ideas  that  can  be  had  by  gathering 
words.  The  word  centrosome  can  give  no  idea  of 
what  the  centrosome  really  is.  A  word  means  nothing 
to  us  unless  we  are  able  to  put  an  idea  into  it.  To 
the  biological  investigator,  the  following  combination 
of  articulate  sounds  or  symbols  means  a  great  deal, 
because  he  has  gained  through  experience  the  ideas 
for  which  the  words  stand:  "The  equal  splitting  of 
the  chromosomes  in  caryokinesis,  and  the  position  of 
the  centrosome  of  the  aster  at  the  end  of  the  spindle, 
in  the  maturation  of  the  ovum  of  Ascaris  megalocephala, 
point  to  the  latter  as  dynamic  centers  whereby  the 
hereditary  qualities  are  equally  distributed."  To  a 
child,  this  means  nothing.  Ideas  do  not  come  from 
language,  but  language  grows  out  of  ideas.  Hence 
the  idea  before  the  word. 

The  Use  of  Language.  In  using  language,  as  in 
conversation  or  as  in  reading  a  book,  do  we  actually 
gain  new  ideas  or  do  we  merely  put  into  language  the 
thoughts  derived  from  our  own  experience?  The 
popular  conception  is  that,  by  reading  a  book  or  re- 
peating the  words  and  committing  them  to  memory, 
the  idea  for  which  the  word  stands,  and  hence  the 
thought  of  the  book,  must  be  ours  also.  The  common 
politician,  who  wishes  to  really  reach  his  audience  so 
as  to  influence  them  in  his  behalf,  does  not  proceed 
on  that  assumption.  He  deals  with  images,  figures, 
ideas,  and  language  that  are  common  to  the  experience 
of  all.  To  tell  people  what  they  know  already  is  to 
be  popular.  To  express  new  ideas  in  new  terms  is 
to  be  unpopular.  Ruskin  once  lamented  before  his 
audience  that  instead  of  receiving  what  the  speaker 
had  to  say,  his  audience  were  only  trying  to  discover 
in  what  respects  he  was  right  and  in  what  wrong.  He 
should  have  known  that  it  was  not  only  a  proper  but 
the  natural  thing  to  do;  for  they  were  merely  reading 
into  his  words  the  ideas  they  already  had,  and  judging 


Theories  of  Development  249 

his  remarks  by  the  standards  of  their  life  experience. 
Most  teachers  expect  a  child  to  get  child's  ideas  out 
of  Shakespeare;  and,  consequently,  adapt  their  books 
and  their  language  to  the  age  and  experience  of  their 
pupils. 

Language  is  not,  primarily,  a  means  of  instruction, 
as  is  so  often  assumed,  but  rather  a  means  or  device 
for  the  interchange  of  familiar  ideas.  Men  have 
language  because  they  have  brains.  They  do  not 
have  brains  because  they  have  language. 


CHAPTER  III 

Systematic    Arrangement    of    Plant 
and  Animal  Forms 

VII.  Introductory. 

Plants  and  animals  are  grouped  according  to  their 
resemblances  and  affinities  into:  (i)  Kingdom,  (2) 
subkingdom,  (3)  series,  (4)  classes,  (5)  subclasses,  (6) 
orders,  (7)  suborders,  or  families,  (8)  genera,  (9)  spe- 
cies, and  ( i  o)  varieties. 

The  name  of  the  genus  and  the  species  taken  to- 
gether constitute  the  scientific  name  of  the  plant  or 
the  animal;  as,  Caltha  palustris  (marsh-marigold) 
or  Canis  familiaris  (the  dog).  In  the  case  of  the  plant, 
Caltha  is  the  genus  and  palustris  is.  the  species.  So 
in  the  case  of  the  dog,  Canis  is  the  genus,  familiaris 
the  species. 

Notice  that  the  genus  is  written  first  and  begins 
with  a  capital  initial,  while  the  species  occupies  second 
place  and  is  written  with  a  small  initial.  When  the 
species  is  named  after  the  discoverer  or  some  other 
person,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  species  is  written 
with  a  capital  letter. 

Comparing  these  scientific  names  with  that  of  a 
man,  as,  for  instance,  John  Smith,  you  will  notice 
that  they  would  be  similar  if  the  man's  name  were 
written  Smith  John,  as  is  sometimes  convenient  to  do. 

But  little  attention  if  any  need  be  given  in  nature 
study  to  the  determination  of  species.  That  is  a 

250 


Classification  of  Plants  and  Animals    251 

work  for  specialists.  There  is  no  important  reason, 
however,  why  the  generic  name  of  the  genus  should 
not  be  given  the  pupil  when  convenient.  He  may  be 
encouraged  to  find  the  name  if  analytical  keys  are 
available,  or  if  it  can  be  found  in  the  dictionary  by 
the  aid  of  the  common  name. 

It  is  an  advantage  to  know  the  common  and  the 
scientific  name  of  things.  The  teacher  should  at  least 
know  how  to  find  the  name  of  the  most  common  things 
with  which  nature  study  deals.  This  can  be  done  to 
a  limited  extent  from  the  following  outlines  by  referring 
to  the  index. 

The  name  of  the  genus  is  sufficient  for  all  practical 
purposes  in  the  grades,  but  even  that  is  not  so  impor- 
tant as  the  more  essential  facts  of  life. 


252  Education  through  Nature 


VIII.  Classification    of    Structures,    Functions    and 
Adaptations  of  Plants. 

GENERAL  ANALYSIS  OF  FLOWERS. 

i.  Introrse 

1.  Anthers       \  2.  Extrorse 

3.  Versatile 

f  i.  Free 

i.  Present    j  2.  Connate 

2.  Filament     f  1 3.  Adnate 


u 

1 


PL, 


2.  Absent 
2.  Absent — Pistilate  or  female 


1.  Simple 

2.  Compound 


£  f  i.  Simple 

*  U  Compound  [2Style    j  i.  Simply 


2.  Absent — Staminate  or  male 
2.  Absent — Sterile 


3.  Calyx 


4.  Corolla 


f  i.  Foliaceous 

1.  Present]  2.  Petaloid 

[3.  Deciduous 

2.  Absent — Asepalous 

i    Present   I  x'  PolyPetal°us 
1  \2.  Gamopetalous 

2.  Absent — Apetalous 


2.  Absent—  Naked 


Classification  of  Plants 


253 


PLANTS — THE  FLOWER. 

i .  Perfect  or  imperfect 


•  i.  Regular 


i.  Simple 


2.  Compound 


i.  As  regards 
organs 


2.  As  regards 
whorls 


3.  As  regards 
form 


4.  As  regards 
number 


2.  Complete  or  incomplete 

3.  Symmetrical  or  unsymmetrical 

4.  Double 

f  i.  Standard 

i.  Papilionaceous-^  2.  Wings 
1 3-  Keel 


.  2.  Irregular-! 

[  2.  Labiate 

1.  Ray  flowers  and  disk  flowers 

2.  Disk  flowers  only 


(  i.  Gaping 
(2. 


Masked 


i.  Perfect 


{i  .  Stamens  )  Hermaphrodite  or 
2.  Pistils      j          bisexual 


Ii.  Staminate  orl 
male  1  i.  Unisexual  or 

2.  Pistilate     or     2.  Separate 
female        J 


1.  Complete    j  *'  ^oHa  [Present 

2.  Incomplete  j  *'  Corolla  }  Absent  (naked) 

-P       ,         j  i.  Petals  (similar  in  shape) 
(  2.  Sepals  (similar  in  shape) 

T          T       j  i.  Petals  (dissimilar  in  shape) 
2.  Irregular  -j  2    Senak  (dissimilar  in  shape) 

of  same   num- 
ber 


i.  Symmetrical 


{  i.  Sepals 

2.  Petals 

3.  Stamens 

4.  Pistils 


Ii.  Sepals 
3:K 
4.  Stamens  J 


differing  in 
number 


254         Education  through  Nature 


~       1        f  i  .  Distinct  (polysepalous)  not  united 
\  2.  United  (gamosepalous) 

/-  1.  Wheel  -shaped 

,  i.  Distinct  (poly-     2.  Bell-shaped 

Petals      j          petalous)          3.  Funnel-shaped 

I  2.  United  (gamo-     4.  Tubular 

i.  Coalescence 

(similar)  ' 

petalous)          5.  Papilionaceous 
•  6.  Labiate 

'  i.  Distinct 

3.  Stamens 

2.  United   (monodelphous,  dia,    tri, 

e 

ic.; 

J 

H 

.  3.  Syngenesious  (anthers  united) 

f  i.  Distinct 

D 

.4.  Pistils     \  2.  United     (monogynous,     di,     tri, 

2                                                   I          etc.) 

'  i.  Calyx        i.  Hypogenous  (under 

4- 

pistil) 

i.  Free       • 

2.  Corolla     2.  Perigenous  (around 
pistil) 

3.  Stamens    3.  Epigenous  (above  pis- 

2.  Adnation 

til) 

(dissimi- 
lar union) 

i.  Calyx  adnate  to  ovary  (ovary  in- 
ferior) 

2.  Petals  adnate  to  sepals    (episepa- 

2.  Adnate  • 

lous) 
3.  Stamens  adnate  to  petals  (epipeta- 

lous) 

i  .  Raceme      *| 

2.  Corymb      1  i.  Simple 

3.  Umbel         |  2.  Compound 

'  i.  Indeterminate  • 

4.  Spike          J 

5.  Head 

6.  Spadix 

k  7.  Catkin 

.  Inflorescence 

| 

'  i.  Cyme          )  i.  Simple 

2.  Determinate    4 

2.  Fasicle        V 

1 

3.  Glomerule  )  2.  Compound 

3.  Mixed 

i.  Thyrsus 
2.  Panicle 

Classification  of  Plants 


255 


ADAPTATIONS  OF  FLOWERS. 


•3 


{i .  Protandry  (anthers  first  mature) 
2.  Protogyny  (pistil  first  mature) 
3.  Cleistogamy  (self -fertilized  inclosed  flower) 


2.  Animals 


3.  Functions 


1  .  Nectar 

2.  Color 

3.  Odor 

4.  Union  of  irregular  petals 

5.  Hairs 

6.  Wax 

i.  Production  of  fruit 

2  Self-fertilization  (cleistogamy) 


3.  Cross-fertilization 


4.  Insect  fertilization 


5.  Fetation  by  )  J; 


FERTILIZATION  OF  FLOWERS. 


and 


1.  Color 

2.  Odor 

3.  Nectar 

4.  Long   stamens 

short  pistils 

5.  Long  pistil  and  short 

stamens 

6.  Monoecious 
7  Dioecious 


'  i.  Self-pollination 


.  2.  Cross-pollination 


1.  Close  fertilization  (same  stamen 

and  pistil) 

2.  Cleistogamy  (closed  flower) 

i .  Insects  (entomophilous) 
.2.  Birds 

3.  Wind  (anemophilous) 
.  4.  Water 


8.  Uses  to  Man 


USES  OF  FLOWERS. 

1.  Ornament 

2.  Fragrance 

3.  Production  of  fruit 

4.  Manufacture  of  perfumery 

5.  Production  of  useful  seeds 

6.  Medicinal 

7.  Nectar  for  honey 


T.  Oats 

2.  Barley 

3.  Wheat 

4.  Corn 


256         Education  through  Nature 


i.  From  bud 


2.  Modified 
stem 


ORIGIN  OF  FLOWERS. 

i.  Branch  (torus) 

'  i.  Sepals 


2.  Leaves 


I.  Kinds  of  Fruit 
(origin) 


2.  Petals 


r.Claw 
2.  Lamina 


3-  Stamens    - 


4.  Pistil 


FRUIT. 


'i.  Simple 


1.  Simple  (one  leaf  or  car- 

pel) 

2.  Compound  (two  leaves 

or  carpels) 


1.  Berry 

2.  Pepo 

3.  Pome 

4.  Drupe 

5.  Akene 

6.  Cremocarp 

7.  Utricle 

8.  Caryopsis 

9.  Nut 

10.  Samara 

11.  Follicle 

12.  Legume 

13.  Capsule 

14.  Silique 

15.  Silicle 

1 6.  Pyxis 


-  Aggregate  {  £ 
3.  Accessory  j  - 
4-  Multiple  j  - 


f  i.  Fleshy 

2.  Kinds  of  Fruit  i  2.  Stone 
(consistency)   | 

1 3-  Dry 


1.  Indehiscent 

2.  Dehiscent 


j  i.  Loculicidal 
(  2.  Septicidal 


Classification  of  Plants 


257 


3.  Origin 


1.  Mature  ovary  ]  ** 

of  one  flower. 

2.  Ovary  and  calyx 

3.  Ovary,  calyx,  and  torus 

,  4.  Ovary,  calyx,  torus,  and  rachis  of  several  flowers 


4.  Uses 


'  i.  Distribution  of  seeds 
2.  Reproduction  of  the  plant 
i.  Animals 


.3.  Food  for 


2.  Plants 
.3.  Man 


1.  Bacteria 

2.  Yeast 

3.  Fungi 


5.  Useful  Properties 


6.  Adaptive  Structures  • 


1.  Hard 

2.  Soft 

3.  Juicy 

4.  Mellow 

5.  Colored 

6.  Fragrant 

7.  Sweet 

8.  Sour 

9.  Bitter 

10.  Starchy 

11.  Oily 

12.  Medicinal 

1.  Rind 

2.  Husk 

3.  Chaff 

4.  Bristles 

5.  Pappus 

6.  Hairs 

7.  Spines 

8.  Hooks 


258  Education  through  Nature 


i. 


LEAVES,  THEIR  FORM  AND  STRUCTURE. 

i.  Blade 

i.  Epidermis 
2.  Pulp  (parenchyma) 
3.  Ribs 
4.  Veins 
5.  Veinlets 

Parts  of  Leaves 

2.  Petiole 

'  i.  Persistent 

2.  Deciduous 

• 

.  3.  Stipules 

3.  Dry  or  scarious 
4.  Free 
5.  Adnate 
6.  Spiny 

2.  Venation  of  Leaves  • 


2.  Netted-veined 
(or  r  e  t  i  c  u- 
lated) 


Ii.  Pinnately  or  feather- 
veined 
2.  Palmately     or     digi- 
tately  veined 


3.  Form  of  Leaves 


4.  The  Base  of  Leaves 


1.  Linear 

2.  Lanceolate 

3.  Oblong 

4.  Elliptical 

5.  Oval 

6.  Ovate 

7.  Orbicular  or  rotund 

8.  Oblanceolate 

9.  Spatulate 

10.  Obovate 

11.  Cuneate 

1.  Cordate 

2.  Reniform 

3.  Auriculate 

4.  Sagittate 

5.  Hastate 

6.  Peltate 

7.  Obtuse 

8.  Acute 

9.  Rounded 


Classification  of  Plants 


259 


i.  Accumulate 

2.  Acute 

3.  Obtuse 
4.  Truncate 

also  applied  to  petals 

5.  The  Apex  of  Leaves     • 

5.  Retuse 
6.  Emarginate 

7.  Obcordate 

8.  Cuspidate 

9.  Mucronate 

.  10.  Aristate 

i.  Entire 

2.  Serrate 

'-: 

3.  Dentate 

4.  Crenate 

6.  The  Margin  of  Leaves  • 

5.  Wavy 
6.  Cut  or  incised 
7.  Lobed    ]  i.  P 

'  i.  Three 
innately  •    2*  -p?ur 

8.  Cleft 

4.  Many 

9.  Parted 

f  i.  Three 

.  10.  Divided  J  2.  P 

almately      £  *™r 

[  4.  Many 

7.  Kinds  of  Leaves 


i.  Simple 

2    ComDound-J  T*  pinnately  \  x-  Pinnules* 
ia(  2.  Palmately/2.  Leaflets 

3.  Perfoliate 

4.  Equitant 

5.  Needle-shaped 
6.  Scale-shaped 

••  Special  forms 

7.  Seed  leaves 

8.  Fleshy  leaves 

8.  Arrangement  of 
Leaves 


Alternate 


2.  Opposite 

3.  Whorled 
.4.  Clustered 


Ii .  Two-ranked  (one-half) 
2.  Three-ranked  (one-third) 
3.  Five-ranked  (two-fifths) 
4.  Eight-ranked  (three-eighths) 


260          Education  through  Nature 


9.  Position  of  Leaves  in  the  Bud 


10.  Structures  of  Leaves 


1.  Straight 

2.  Folded 

3.  Inflexed 

4.  Conduplicate 

5.  Plicate 

6.  Circinate 

7.  Convolute 

8.  Involute 

9.  Re  volute 

1.  Epidermis 

2.  Network  of  veins 

3.  Green  mesophyl 


I.  Adaptations  of  Leaves 
to  Light 


ADAPTATIONS  OF  LEAVES. 


1.  Flat  and  expanded  surface 

2.  Cut,  divided,  or  cleft  to  let  in  light 

3.  Separated  on  the  stem 

4.  Petiole  lengthened  or  shortened 

5.  Rolled  up  so  as  to  expose  little  surface 

6.  Turning  flat  surface  or  edge  to  light 

7.  Placed  uppermost  on  the  stem 

8.  Bending  towards  the  light 

9.  Green  color  chlorophyl 

10.  Palisade  arrangement  of  cells  on  ex- 
posed surface 


2.  Adaptations  of  Leaves 
to  Water 


1.  Hairy 

2.  Waxy 

3.  Covered  with  cuticle 

4.  Large  and  broad  for  floating 

5.  Drooping 

6.  Pitcher-shaped 

7.  Prostrate  position  on  the  ground 

8.  Upright  position  on  stem 


3.  Adaptation  of  Leaves  for  Protec- 
tion'from  Other  Plants 


'  i.  Prickly 

2.  Hairy 

3.  Changed  into  tendrils 

4.  Thick,  spherical,  and  fleshy 
1 5.  Converted  into  spines 


Classification  of  Plants 


261 


4.  Adapta- 
tions to 
Func- 
tion 


I.  Transpiration 


2.  Photosynthesis  • 


1.  Stomata 

2.  Expanded  surface 

3.  Differentiation  of  two  surfaces 

4.  Hairs 

5.  Rosin 

6.  Cuticle 

7.  Porous  mesophyl 

8.  Spherical  or  fleshy  form 

1.  Flat  and  expanded  surface 

2.  Cut  or  divided 

3.  Separated  on  the  stem 

4.  Petiole  lengthened 

5.  Drooping  in  sleep 

6.  Heliotropism 

7.  Chlorophyl 

8.  Stomata 

f  i.  Expanded  surface 
3.  Respiration        \  2.  Stomata 

[  3.  Spongy  mesophyl 

(i.  Forming  roots 
2.  Trap-shaped 
3.  Pitcher-shaped 
4.  Thick  and  fleshy  for  storage 

1.  Hairy  to  prevent  injury 

2.  Spiny  for  protection 

3.  Bitter 

4.  Sticky 

5.  Smooth 

6.  Powdery 

7.  Trap -shaped 

8.  Pitcher-shaped 

9.  Nutritious  for  food 
10.  Broad  for  shelter 


4.  Nutrition 


5.  Adaptations  to  Animals 


6.  Adaptations  of  Leaves  to 
Man's  Uses 


'r- Nutritious  for  food  )  J| 

2.  Chemical  elements  for -j  * 

3.  Manufactures  {  - 

4-  Shelter  {  J; 
5.  Ornaments 


262  Education  through  Nature 


ROOTS  or  PLANTS. 

'  i.  Primary 


I.  Kinds  of  Roots  as  to  Origin 


Roots  as  Regards  Distribution 


2.  Secondary 

3.  Tertiary 

.4.  Adventitious 

1.  Soil-roots 

2.  Water-roots 

3.  Aerial  roots 

4.  Parasitic  roots 


f  i.  Fibrous 
3.  Forms  of  Roots     '.Fascicled 

1 3.  Fleshy       \  2. 
1 3- 


Napeform  1 

Conical      +  Tap-roots 

Fusiform  J 


4.  Roots  as  Regards  Duratio: 


f  i.  Ar 
ion  \  2.  Bi 
I  3.  Pe 


Annual 

Biennial 

Perennial 


i.  Hair-like 

i. 

v^uucj.  uaus.  —  cpj.u.ciiiu.3 

Structure 
of  Roots  ' 

2.  Woody        "    • 

2. 

Central  wood)  -Medullary  rays 

,3.  Soft  and  juicy 

.3- 

Cambium 

i.  Absorptions 

i.  Thin  walls  of  root-hairs 
2.  Increase  of  surface  by  division 
3.  Thickening  of  epidermis  pre- 
vents evaporation 

6.  Adaptations  of 
Roots  to 


2.  Storage 


Underground    position    prevents 

freezing 
Thickened  epidermis  prevents  loss 

of  water 


3.  Support  —  Hard  tap-root  and  tough  secondary 

roots 

f  i.  Ramification  of  rootlets 

4.  Holdfasts  •)  2.  Large  descending  tap-root 

(.  3.  Twisting  of  aerial  roots 


Classification  of  Plants 


263 


7.  Uses  of  Roots  to 

{i.  Food 
2.  Basket-work 
3.  Medicine 

f  i.  Food 
2.  Animals  •{  2.  Shelter 
[3.  Support 

'  i.  Absorption 

7    Plants      J  2>  Food-storage 
L3-  Plants      |3    Holdfasts 

.4.  Protection 

STEMS  OF  PLANTS. 

f  i .  Above  ground 
I.  Distribution  of  Stems «  2'  j 


1 1.  Above  ground 


2.  Kinds  of  Stems  • 


.  2.  Under  ground  • 


3    In 

4.  Underground 


1.  Culm  (straw  stem  of  grass 

2.  Shrubby 

3.  Bushy 

4.  Tree-trunks 

1.  Rhizome  (root-stock) 

2.  Tuber  (potato) 

3.  Corn  (solid  bulb) 
.  4.  Bulb  (scaly) 


3.  Stems  as  Regards  Direction  of  Growth 


i.  Leaning 
2.  Reclining 
3.  Rising 
4.  Prostrate 

5.  Creeping 

6.  Climbing 
.  7.  Twining 

{  i.  Stolon 
2.  Offset 
[3.  Runner 

Anomalous  Stems  and  Branches 


f  i.  Sucker 
•j  2.  Tendril 
[3.  Spines 


5.  Forms  oi  Stems 


1.  As  regards     f  i.  Deliquescent  (divided) 

branching  |  2.  Excurrent  (central  shaft) 

2.  Jointed 

3.  Square 

4.  Cylindrical 

5.  Flat  or  leaf-like 

6.  Spherical 


264  Education  through  Nature 


6.  Structure  of  Stems  • 


1.  Woody  (exogenous) 

2.  Pithy  (endogenous) 

3.  Herbaceous 

4.  Hollow  or  porous 

5.  Fleshy 

6.  Scaly 


f  i.  Annual 

7.  Duration  of  Stems  \  2.  Biennial 
[  3.  Perennial 


8.  Growth  of  Stems  • 


1.  Exogenous 

2.  Endogenous 

3.  Definite  annual  growth 

.  4.  Indefinite  annual  growth 


USES  OF  THE  STEM. 


9.  Uses  of  Stems  to 


i.  Plants 


2.  Animals  • 


1.  Conduction  of  sap 

2.  Storage  of  food 

3.  Support  of  leaves 

4.  Protection 

5.  Support  of  other  plants 
.6.  Reproduction 

'  i.  Larvae 

2.  Ants 

3.  Birds 

4.  Toads 

5.  Snakes 
.6.  Monkeys 

2.  Food 

3.  Protection  and  shelter 


'  i.  Homes  of 


3.  Man 


1.  Food 

2.  Medicines 

3.  Building  material 

4.  Fodder 

5.  Manufacture  of 

6.  Fibers  for  manu- 

factures 

7.  Bark  for  tanning 


1.  Lumber 

2.  Furniture 

3.  Tools 

4.  Sugar 

5.  Starch 

6.  Paper 

7.  Rubber 

8.  Dyes 

9.  Linen  goods 


.  8.  Bark  for  Indian  canoes,  etc. 


Classification  of  Plants 


265 


i 


i.  Light 


2.  Heat 


3.  Moisture 


4.  Wind 


5.  Plants 


6.  Animals 


7.  Man 


ADAPTATIONS  OF  STEMS. 

1.  Heliotropism  (bending  to  light) 

2.  Erect  position 

3.  Branching 

4.  Elongated  or  climbing 

5.  Branching  only  at  extreme  top 

6.  Underground  stems 


1.  Bark  and  hardened  cuticle 

2.  Underground  below  frost 

3.  Periodic  diminution 

4.  Flow  of  sap 
c.  Hairs 


1 .  Cuticle  prevents  evaporation 

2.  Rosin 

3.  Hairs 

4.  Powder 

.  5.  Creeping  and  floating  posture 

1.  Hard  heart  wood 

2.  Hollow 

3.  Firmly  rooted 

4.  Low  and  prostrate 

5.  Flexibility 

6.  Drying  and  carrying  seeds  in  wind 

1.  Hollow  for  strength 

2.  Firm  and  woody  for  support 

3.  Long  and  slender  for  twining 

4.  Divided  and  slender  for  floating  in  water 

5.  Underground  for  protection  and  propagation 

6.  Branched  for  leaf  exposure 

7.  Covered  with  bark  or  cuticle  for  protection 

1.  Spiny  for  protection 

2.  Covered  with  bark  for  protection 

3.  Hairy  for  protection  from  insects 

4.  Sticky  for  protection 

5.  Bitter  for  protection 

1.  Hard  and  woody  for  use 

2.  Soft  and  juicy  for  use 

3.  Tall  and  graceful  for  beauty 

4.  Tough  and  flexible 

5.  Light  and  heavy 

6.  Spicy 

L  7.  Sweet  and  bitter 


266          Education  through  Nature 


ADAPTATIONS  OF  STEMS  TO  WORK. 


o 

I 


I 


i.  Climbing 


2.  Storage 


3.  Circulation- 


4.  Support 


1.  Roots  at  many  joints 

2.  Production  of  tendrils 

3.  Twisted  petioles  or  leaf -stalks 

4.  Slender  stems  for  climbing 

1.  Underground  position 

2.  Thickened  and  fleshy 

3.  Corky  bark  to  prevent  evaporation 

4.  Pithy 

1 .  Fibro vascular  bundles 

2.  Cambium  layer 

3.  Sieve -tubes  and  tracheids 

4.  Thickened  walls  of  wood-cells 
.  5.  Medullary  rays 

1.  Heart  wood  of  trees 

2.  Hollow  stems  of  grasses 

3.  Hard  wood  and  bast-tissue 


TISSUES  OF  STEMS. 
'  i .  Epidermal  tissue 


Exogens 


2. 

~,     j          ,  T     f  i  .  Fundamental  parenchyma 
snstaem               2-  Sclerotic  parenchyma 
[  3.  Sclerotic  prosenchyma 

"  i.  Bundle  sheath 

2.  Phloem  sheath 

3- 

Fibro-vascular 
system 

3.  Bast-fibers 
4.  Sieve-tubes 
5.  Phloem  parenchyma 
6.  Tracheids 

7.  Scalariform  vessels 
.  8.  Spiral  and  pitted  ducts 

but 


CELLS  OF  PLANT  TISSUES. 


13.  Forms  of  Plant -cells 


1.  Spherical 

2.  Cylindrical 

3.  Flat 

4.  Spindle-shaped 

5.  Hexagonal 

6.  Elongated 
,7.  Irregular 


Classification  of  Plants 


267 


14.  Kinds  of  Tissue-cells 


'  i.  Cork  cells  or  epidermal  cells 

2.  Bast  cells 

3.  Green -bark  cells 

4.  Cambium  cells 

5.  Primary  meristem  cells 

6.  Wood  cells 

7.  Tracheids  or  pitted  cells 

8.  Pith  cells 


SEEDS. 


i.  Re 


^productive  Bodies  j  i.  Spores  of  cryptogams  (cells) 

in  Plants  {  2.  Seeds  of  phaenogams  (containing  embryo) 


'  i.  Seed-coats 


i.  Testa 


Markings 


1.  Hilum  (scar) 

2.  Raphe  (ridge) 

3.  Chalaza 

4.  Micropyle 


2.  Shape 

3.  Color 

f  i.  Wings 

I  2.  Fibers  (coma) 

4.  Appendages  •[  3.  Wool  (cotton) 

I  4.  Aril  (bladders) 
1.5.  Strophiole 


2.  Inner  coat  (thin  membrane) 


,2.  Kernel 


'  i.  One  or  mono- 

cotyledonous 

i.  Cotyledons- 

2.  Two  or  dicot- 
yledonous 

3.  Many  or  poly- 

cotyledonous 

i.  Embryo   • 

2.  Plumule 

3.  Hypocotyl    (radi-j  i.  Superior 

cle  or  caulicle    |  2.  Inferior 

2.  Albumen]  T'  Resent  (albuminous) 
L                       (2.  Absent  (exalbummous) 

268         Education  through  Nature 


USES  OF  SEEDS. 


i.  Wild  animals 


'  I 

.  Poultry 

2 

.  Horses 

i.  Domestic  animals    3 

.  Cows 

4 

.  Pigs 

15 

.  Sheep 

i.  Food 

for                        f  i.  Corn  meal 

2.  Oatmeal 

.  2.  Man    •  3.  Flour 

4.  Starch 

.5.  Rice 

2.  Drugs 

i    Coffee 
2    Cocoa 

*. 

{i    Nutmegs 

2    Juniper 

3    Extracts 

o 

1 

2.  Man 

i.  Fermented  spirits 
2.  Cotton  goods 

w 

4.  Manufactures  •  3.  Linseed-oil 

•8 

4.  Ornaments 

1 

.5.  Ointments 

$ 

i.  Timothy 

CO 

2.  Clover 

3.  Red-top 

4.  Blue  grass 

5.  Buckwheat 

6.  Cora 

7.  Oats 

8.  Wheat 

5.  Agricul-  ' 

9.  Barley 

ture 

10.  Flax 

ii.  Sugar-corn 

12.  Broom-corn 

13.  Garden  vegetables 
14.  Cultivated  flowers 

f  i.  Maple 
2.  Cherry 

3.  Apple 

15.  Trees 

4.  Peach 

5.  Orange 

6.  Cott'nwood 

,  7.  Osage 

„    «r«u    T>I     A    f  i«  Dissemination 
3»  JLne  iriants  •%       -i~>         i      • 
^                       |  2.  Reproduction 

Classification  of  Plants 


269 


ADAPTATIONS  OF  SEEDS. 

f  i    Drouth    /  *'  SmaU  surface 
\  2.  Impervious  outer  coat 

i.  Resting  period  < 

•*/!-  •  f       j  i  '  Dry  albumen 
re  {  2.  Hard  impervious  outer  coat 

B 

•JL  *•    i      •    i     f  i  «  Small  size 
1  3.  Mechanical     1  ^  s  herical  form 

1  3.  Spines  and  prickles 

S 

2.  Protection         i 

'  i.  Hardness 
2.  Compactness 
3.  Thick  and  hard  outer  coat 
4.  Spherical  or  arched  surfaces 
.  5.  Protective  coloring 

1 

4 

3.  Dissemination  • 

'i.  Color 
2.  Loose  bladder  appendages 
3.  Wings 
4.  Spines 
5.  Hooks 
6.  Hairs 
,  7.  Lightness 

^,        .                 (  i.  Albumen 
4.  Germination      •<       T?    K 

{i.  Seeds  blown  by  the  wind 
2.  Fruit  carried  by  the  wind 
3.  Entire  plant  carried  by  the  wind 

1 

f  i.  Floating  seeds 
2.  Water      j   2.  Floating  fruit 
I  3.  .Floating  plants 

leans  of  Disseminj 

f  i.  In  beak 
i.  Birds  I  2.  On  feet 
[3.  In  crop 

{i.  In  wool 
2.  In  hair 
3.  Alimentary  canal 

t4 
10 

T,           .          .      ,      f  i  .  In  mouth 
(  3.  Burrowing  animals    j  2    Stored  food 

i.  Clothing 
2.  Wagons 
.  4.  Man            3.  Cars 
4.  Ships 
5.  Mud  on  boots 
6.  Sowing  by  hand  or  machint 

270        Education  through  Nature 


SOILS  AND  GERMINATION  or  SEEDS. 


6.  Properties  of  Soils 


1.  Sand 

2.  Clay 

3.  Loam 

4.  Moisture 


1 .  Carbon  compounds 

2.  Carbon  dioxide 

3.  Proteids 

4.  Ammonia 


5.  Organic  substances 

6.  Various  salts 


7.  Conditions  for  Germination  • 


1.  Resting  period  of  some  seeds 

2.  Moisture 

3.  Heat 

4.  Oxygen  or  air 


8.  Effects  of  Ger- 
mination 


f   •,•,  r         (  i.  Seed  leai 

Absorption  of  albumen  from  j  2>  En(iOSpe 


Seed  leaves 
;rm 


2.  Unfolding  of  embryo 

3.  Lengthening  of  the  hypocotyl 

4.  1.  brmation  of  roots 

5.  Connection  with  the  soil 


BUDS. 

f  i.  Terminal 
•  i.  Position  |2.  Lateral     ji. 

Axillary 
Extra-axillary 

Classification 
of  Buds 

f  i.  Solitary 
-  Number  |2.Supernumeraryj,:CoUa^ld 

,3.  Kinds 

'  i.  Accessory 
2.  Naked 
3.  Scaly 
4.  Leaf-buds 
c;.  Flower-buds 
6.  Mixed 
.7.  Dormant 

fi.  Leaf -buds,  stems  in  miniature 

2.  Homology  of  Buds  \  2.  Flower-buds,  homologous  to  leaf-buds,  as 
I          the  flower  is  a  modified  stem 


Classification  of  Plants 


271 


Adaptations 
of  Buds  to 


i.  Arrangement  on  stem 

1.  Light  •{    2.  Underground 

3.  Under  the  bark 

1.  Hairs 

2.  Scales 

2.  Temperature       3.  Position  under  ground 

4.  Position  under  the  petiole 

5.  Position  under  the  bark 


3.  Moisture 


4.  Uses  of  Buds  to 


i  Plants 


2.  Animals 


.3.  Man 


5.  Protective  Adaptations 


1.  Waxy 

2.  Hairs 

3.  Scales 

4.  Location  under  petiole 

5.  Location  under  bark 


1.  Reproduction 

2.  Condensation  of  exposed  parts 

3.  Saving  of  time  in  early  spring 

4.  Provision  for  accidents 

51.  Food  (insects,  mammals,  etc.) 
2.  Shelter  (insect  eggs) 

1.  Food 

2.  Medicine 

3.  Seed 

1.  Scales 

2.  Wax 

3.  Bitter  taste 

4.  Obscure  color 

5.  Hairs 

6.  Position  under  bark 

,  7.  Position  under  petiole 


272          Education  through  Nature 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  PLANTS. 

FLOWERING  PLANTS. 


'  I. 

2. 

3- 

Order 

Cupulijera  " 

SalicinecB 
VrticacecB 

'  i. 

2. 

3- 

.4- 
'  i. 

2. 

,3- 
!i. 
,2' 

Oak,  Quercus 
Hazel-nut,  Corylus 
Birch,  Betula 
Alder,  Alnus 
Willow,  Salix 
Poplar,  Populus 
Cotton  wood,  Populus 
Elm,  Ulmus 
Hop,  Humulus 

I 


'  i.  Dicoty- 
ledons 


2.  Mo  no- 
cotyledons  • 


.  Composite 


/  1.  Sage 

I  2. 


Monkey-flower,  Mimulus 


f  i.  Locust,  Robinia 
7.  Leguminosczl  2.  Bean,  Phaseolus 
I  3.  Lupine,  Lurpinus 
'  i  .  Rose,  7?05a 

2.  Apple,  Pyrus 

3.  Cheixy,  Prunus 

4.  Strawberry,  Fragaria 

5.  Raspberry,  Rubus  . 

6.  Plumb,  Prunus 

1.  Buttercup,  Ranunculus 

2.  Marsh-marigold,  Caltha 

3.  Larkspur,  Delphinum 

4.  Virgin's-bower,  Clematis 

1.  Orchidacece  —  Lady's-slipper,  Cypripedium 

2.  Iridacece  —  Flag, 

i. 


8.  Rosacecz 


Ranun- 
culacecB 


3.  Liliacecz  .  - 


4.  Gramma 
(grasses) 


2.  Class  Gymnospermae  Conifers 


Onion,  Allium 

2.  Camass,  Camassia 

3.  Lily,  Lilium 

1 .  Timothy,  Phleum 

2.  Barley,  Hordeum 

3.  Wheat,  Triticum 

4.  Corn,  Zea 

5.  Bluegrass,  Poa 

5.  Juncacea  f  i.  Bog-rush,  Juncus 

(rushes)  \  2 .  Wood- rush,  Luzuala 

6.  Typhacea — Cat-tail,  Typha 

'  i.  Pine,  Pinus 
2.  Spruce, 
3-  Fir, 

4.  Juniper,  Juniperus 

5.  Arbor-vitae,  Thuja 

6.  Redwood,  Sequoia 
,  7.  Larch, 


Classification  of  Plants 


273 


FLOWERLESS  PLANTS  (Cryptogams). 
Mosses  and  Ferns. 


2.  Pteridophyta   - 


1.  Club  moss,  Lycopodium 

2.  Scouring  rushes  (horestails)  Equisetum 

f  i.  Spleenwort,  Asplenium 

*    Ferns  Filicalesl  2'  Christmas  ttm,  Aspidium 
L  3*  w  1  3.  Bracken  fern,  Pteris 

\  4.  Maidenhair,  Adiantum 


3.  Bryophyta 


i. 


Mosses,  Musci 


1.  Polytrichium 

2.  Hypnum 

3.  Dicranum 


T  . 
[  2.  Liverworts, 


i.  Jungermania 
-    Marchantia 


274         Education  through  Nature 


Algl  and,  Fungi. 

'  i.  Higher  algi,  Characea,  stone  worts   \  *'  jyfafta 


I. 
f 


1.  Algi 


seaweeds 


f  i. 
\  2. 


Fucus 


3.  Red  algi,  Rhodophycea,  red  sea-  f  T.  Dasya 

weeds  \  2.  Ptilota 

f       •»-» 

4.  Green  algi,  Chlorophycece, 

pond-scum 


5.  Blue    algi,  Cyanophycece,  jelly    fi. 
colonies  \  2. 


Oscillaria 
Nostoc 


T  •  -u         TJsi,**,    •    /  *•  Crusted  and  scaly,  Collema 
2.  Lichens,  Luhenes    |  2>  Filiform  and  braichedj  t/^ 

!i.  Toadstools,  Polyporus 
2.  Mushroom,  Boletus 
3.  Puffballs,  Crucibulum 

{i.  Smuts,  Phragmidium 
2.  Rust,  Puccinia 

c  i.  Mildews,  Microsphcera 
\  2.  Blue  Mold,  Penicillium 


.3.  Fungi 


2.  Polymorphic  fungi, 
JLcydiomycetes 


3.  Sac-fungi, 
cetes 


4.  Alga-fungi,  Phyco-   f  i.  Bread  Mold,  Mucor 

my  cetes  \  2.  Water  Mold,  Saprolegnia 

5.  Yeast,  Bread  yeast — Saccharomyces  cerevisice 

f  i.  Spirillum 

6.  Bacteria,  Schizomy cetes  j  ^  ™*Mus 

[4.  Micrococcus 

7.  Slime  Molds,  Myxomycetes 


Classification  of  Animals 


275 


IX.  Classification  of  Animals, 


METAZOA. 

SUBKINGDOMS  AND  CLASSES  OF  ANIMALS. 

A    •      i  v  •     A         /  J  •  Series  Metazoa  (many-celled) 
Animal  Kingdom   (2    Series  Protozoa  (one-celled) 

1.  Vertebrata  (animals  with  back-bone) 

2.  Arthropoda  (animals  with   segmented  body  and 

jointed  legs) 

3.  Mollusca  (soft  body  covered  with  mantle) 

4.  Vermes  (bilateral,  with  no  legs) 
Subkingdoms      5.  Echinodermata  (radiate,   with  leathery  or   spiny 

covering 

6.  Ccelenterata  (radiate,  with  tentacles  and  nettling 

cells 

7.  Porifera  (sponge-like  animals) 

8.  Protozoa  (no  true  tissues,  single  cells) 

Si.  Mammals  (suckle  the  young) 
2.  Birds  (feathered,  wings,  lungs) 
3.  Reptiles  (lungs  and  scales) 
I  4.  Amphibians  (gills  and  lungs) 
[  5.  Fishes  (permanent  gills,  fins) 


Classes  of  Arthro- 
pods 


Classes  of  Mol- 
lusks 


1.  Insecta  (six   legs,  distinct  head,  thorax,  and 

abdomen) 

2.  Arachnida    (eight     legs,    head    and    thorax 

united) 

3.  Myriapoda  (many  legs,  body  of  distinct  seg- 

ments) 
.  4.  Crustacea  (more  than  eight  legs,  gills) 

'  i.  Cephalopoda   (head  with   arms   around  the 

mouth) 

2.  Gasteropoda  (shell  of  one  valve,  tentacles) 
3    Lamellibranchiata  (shell  of  two  valves) 


Classes  of 
Worms 


1.  Annelides  (worms  with  soft  body  of  similar  segments) 

2.  Brachiopoda  (worms  with  shells) 

3.  Polyzoa  (minute,  composite  worms) 

4.  Rotifera  (minute  ciliated  worms) 

5.  Nematelminthes  (thread-like,  not  jointed) 

6.  Platyhelminthes  (flatworms) 


276  Education  through  Nature 

'  i .  Holothuroidea  (cylindrical  and  soft  body) 

Classes  of  Echi-     2.  Echinoidea  (covered  with  spinous  shell) 

noderms  3.  Asteroidea  (body  star-shaped) 

b  4.  Crinoidea  (cup-shaped  body,  stalked) 

i.  Ctenophora     (transparent    body    with    eight 

Classes  of  Ccelen-  ^  rows  of  paddles) 

terates                '  2.  Anthozoa  (soft  body  with  radiating  septa) 

.  3.  Hydrozoa  (simple  bag-like  body) 

held  together  by 


ClassesofPonferaf1- 


Ii.  Infusoria  (covered  with  cuticle  and  cilia) 
2.  Gregarinida  (a  single  worm-like  cell) 
3.  Rhizopoda  (having  root-like  feet) 
4.  Monera  (homogeneous  protoplasmic  body) 


ORDERS  OF  MAMMALS  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 


i.  Primates,  great  toe 


1.  Man,  Homo 

2.  Gorilla,  Troglodytes 

3.  Orang-outang,  Simla 

4.  Gibbon,  Hylobates 

5.  Monkey,  A  teles 


2.  Prosimii,  arboreal,  clawed — Lemur,  Lemur 


3.  Carnivora,  flesh-eaters 


i.  Seal,  Phoca                 1 

2.  Walrus,  Trichecus       >  pinnigrade 

3.  Sea-lions,  Zalophus    J 

4.  Bear,  Ursus                \ 

5.  Badger,  Taxidea         j-  plantigrade 

6.  Raccoons,  Procyon     J 

7.  Lion,  Felis 

8.  Tiger,  Felis 

9.  Leopard,  Felis 

10.  Panther,  Felis 

ii.  Cat,  Felis 

12.  Dog,  Canis 

13.  Wolf,  Canis 

»  digitigrade 

14.  Fox,  Vulpes 

15.  Coyote,  Canis 

1  6.  Otter,  Lutra 

17.  Weasel,  Putorius 

18.  Mink,  Lutreola 

,  19.  Skunk,  Mephites  t 

Classification  of  Animals 


277 


4.  Ungulata,  hoofed 


ruminants 


1.  Ox,  Bos 

2.  Camel,   Camelus 

3.  Deer,  Cervus 

4.  Elk,  Alee  s 

5.  Sheep,  Ovis 

6.  Goat,  Capra 

7.  Pig,  Sus 

8.  Hippopotamus,  Hippopotamus 

9.  Rhinoceros,  Rhinoceros 

10.  Tapir,  Tapir  us 

11.  Horse,  Equus 


6.  Sirenia, 


{  - 


f  i.  Whale,  Physeter 

7.  Cetaceae  carnivorous  \  2.  Porpoise,  Phoccena 
[  3.  Dolphin,  Delphinus 

8.  Cheiroptera,  winged  —  Bats,  Lasiurus 

f  i.  Mole,  Scalops 
9.  Insectivora,  insect-feeders  \  2.  Shrew,  Sorerv 

(.  3.  Hedgehog,  Erinaceus 


10.  Rodentia,  gnawers 


1.  Guinea-pig, 

2.  Beaver,  Castor 

3.  Rabbit,  Lepus 

4.  Mice,  M«5 

5.  Rats,  M«5 

6.  Muskrat,  Fiber 

7.  Squirrel,  Sciurus 


'  i.  Armadillo,  Dasypus 
ii.  Edentata,  toothless  -j  2.  Sloths,  Brady  pus 

„  3.  Ant-eaters,  Myrmecophaga 


12. 


13.  Monotremata 


{- 


omithodelpHia 


278          Education  through  Nature 


ORDERS  or  BIRDS  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 

1.  Raven,  Corvus 

2.  Magpie,  Pica 

3.  Crow,  Corvus 

4.  Blackbirds,  Agelaius 

5.  Lark,  Sturnella 

6.  Starling,  Sturnus 

7.  Vireos,  Vireo 

8.  Waxwings,  Ampelis 

9.  Swallows,  Hirundo 

10.  Wrens,  Campylorhynchus 

11.  Thrush,  Turdus 

12.  Blue-birds,  Sia/i'a 

13.  Robin,  Erythacus 

14.  Mockingbird,  Mimus 

15.  Kinglet,  Regius 

1 6.  Chickadee,  Par  us 

17.  Jays,  Cyanura 

18.  Finch,  Carpodacus 

19.  Grosbeak,  Hedymeles 

20.  Song-sparrow,  Melospiza 

21.  Oriole,  Icterus 

22.  Sparrow,  Passer 

23.  Bobolink,  Dolichonyx 

24.  Pewees,  Sayornis 

25.  Starling,  Sturnus 

26.  King-bird,  Tyrannus 

27.  Vireo,  Fireo 

28.  Nightingale,  Daulias 

29.  Linnet,  Linaria 

30.  Snow-finch,  Monti frmgilla 

31.  Canary,  Serinus 


i.  Insessores,  singing  birds,  three 
toes  in  front,  perchers 


2.  Psittaci,  /fes&y  tongue,  stout 
curved  beak,  arboreal 


3.  Picarise,  paired  toes,  arial 


4. .  Raptores,  strongly  hooked  bill 
and  talons,  preying 


Ii.  Cockatoos,  Plictolopleus 

2.  Lory,  Trichoglossus 

3.  Parrots,  Psittacus 

4.  Love-birds,  Agapornis 

1.  Swifts,  Ch&tura 

2.  Humming-birds,  Trochilus 

3.  Woodpeckers,  Melanerpes 

4.  Cuckoos,  Coccyzus 

5.  Trogons,  Tmetotrogon 


1.  Eagle,  Aquila 

2.  Hawks,  Aocipiter 

3.  Owls,  Nyctea 

4.  Vulture,  Cathartes 

5.  Condor,  Carcorhampus 


,  6.  Buzzard, 


Classification  of  Animals 


279 


5.  Columbae,  long  wings,  slender 
legs,  perching  feet 


'  i.  Pigeon,  Ectopistes 

2.  Rock-dove,  Columba 

3.  Mourning  dove,  Zneaida 

4.  Dodo,  Didus 


6.  Rasores,  stout  "beak,  legs  and 
claws,  scratchers 


1.  Fowl,  Callus 

2.  Prairie-hen,  Tympanuchus 

3.  Sage-cock,  Centrocercus 

4.  Quail,  Colinus 

5.  Golden  pheasant,  Thaumalia 

6.  Peacock,  Pavo 

7.  Guinea-hen,  Numida 
.  8.  Turkey,  Meleagris 


7.  Grallatores,  long  bill  neck  and  legs,  waders 


1.  Cranes,  Grus 

2.  Snipes,  Scolopax 

3.  Storks,  Ciconia 

4.  Bittern,  Botaurus 

5.  Plovers,  sEgialites 


8.  Lamellirostres,  long,  flat  soft 
bill,  webbed  feet 


1.  Flamingo,  Ph&nicopterus 

2.  Coot,  Fulica 

3.  Water-hen,  Galinula 

4.  Ducks,  Anos 

5.  Geese,  Anser 

6.  Swans,  Cygnus 


9.  Totipalmates,  long,  curved  beaks, 
webbed  feet,  carnivorous 


10.  Longipennes,  long,    pointed 
wings,  flyers,  carnivorous 


II.  Pygopodes,  legs  far  back,  short 
wings,  divers 


12.  Cursores,  rudimentary  wings, 
stout  legs,  runners 


1.  Cormorants,  Graculus 

2.  Pelicans,  Pelicanus 

3.  Gannet,  Sula 

1.  Gulls,  Larus 

2.  Terns,  Sterna 

3.  Albatross,  Diomedea 

4.  Petrels,  Ossijraga 

11.  Penguins,  Aptenodytes 
2.  Auks,  A  lea 
3.  Loons,  Colymbus 
4.  Grebes,  Podicipes 

'  i.  Ostrich,  Rhea 

2.  Cassowary,  Casuarius 

3.  Emu,  Dromaus 

[4. 


280  Education  through  Nature 


ORDERS  OF  REPTILES  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 

{i.  Crocodile,  Crocodilus 
2.  Gavial,  Gamalis 
3.  Alligator,  Alligator 

1.  Green  turtles,  Chelonia 

2.  Snapping  turtle,  Chelydra 

3.  Mud-turtle,  Pseudemys 

2.  Chelonia    {  4.  Painted  turtle,  Chrysemys 

5.  Terrapins,  Terrapene 

6.  Land-tortoise,  Clemmys 

7.  Chicken-tortoise,  Emys 

1.  Horned  toad,  Phrynosoma 

2.  Land  lizard,  Lacerta 

3.  Common  lizard,  Sceloporus 

3.  Lacertilia  •  4.  Geckos,  Gec&0 

5.  Dragons,  Draco 

6.  Chameleon,  Anolis 

.  7.  Gila  monster,  Heloderma 

1.  Boas,  50a 

2.  Viper,  Heterodon 
Rattlesnake,  Crotalus 


4.  Ophidia  • 


4.  Green-grass  snake,  Liopeltes 


5.  Striped  garter-snake,  Thamnophis 

6.  Spotted  adder,  Lampropeltes 

7.  Blacksnake,  Bascanion 

8.  Water-snake,  Natrioc 


ORDERS  OF  AMPHIBIA  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 


i.  Amira 


1.  Toads,  Bujo 

2.  Bullfrog,  Rana 

3.  Tree-frog,  Hyla 

.  4.  Flying  frog,  Rhacophorus 


2.  Apoda,  blind  and  worm-like  —  Concilia 


{i. 
2. 
3. 

4.  Proteida,  embryonic    {  J; 


Newt,  Molge 
Salamander,  Amblystoma 
Hellbender,  Cryptobranchus 


Classification  of  Animals 


281 


I.  Dipnoi,  Eel-like,  with  gills 
and  bladder-like  lungs 


SOME  ORDERS  AND  COMMON  GENERA  OF  FISHES. 

1 .  Australian  lungfish,  Ceratodus 

2.  S.  American  mudfish,  Lepido siren 

3.  African  mudfish,  Protopterus 


1.  Cod,  Gadus 

2.  Herring,  Clupea 

3.  Bluefish,  Pomatomus 

4.  Bullhead,  Ameiurus 

5.  Toadfish,  Batrachus 

6.  Searobin,  Prionotus 

7.  Rockfish,  Roccus 

8.  Perch,  Perca 

9.  Bass,  Micropterus 

10.  Salmon,  Salmo 

11.  Flounder,  Paralichthys 

12.  Flying  fish,  Exoccetus 

13.  Dogfish,  Amia 

14.  Pickerel,  £5^5; 

15.  Trout,  Salvelinus 

1 6.  Whitefish,  Coregonus 

17.  Snakefish,  Synodus 

1 8.  Anchovies,  Stole phorus 

19.  Shad,  Dorosoma 

20.  Ladyfish,  Albula 

21.  Minnows,  Notropis 

22.  Suckers,  Catostomus 

23.  Catfish,  Ameirus 

24.  Smelts,  Mallotus 

25.  Eels,  Echelus 

26.  Swordfish,  Remora 

27.  Mackerel,  Scomber 

28.  Halibut,  Hippoglossus 


2.  Teleostei,  &<?wy  ;Mes 


Ganoids,  heterocercel  tail,  skele- 
ton incompletely  ossified 


4.  Elasmobranchs,  uncovered  gills, 
cartilaginous 


Ii.  Spoonbill,  Polyodon 

2.  Sturgeon,  Acipencer 

3.  Gar-pike,  Lepisosteus 

4.  Mudfish,  Amia 

1.  Dogfish,  Squalus 

2.  Shark,  Carcharhinus 

3.  Ray,  Torpedo 

4.  Skate,  Raja 

5.  Sea-devils,  Mania 

6.  Chimaera 


282  Education  through  Nature 


ORDERS  OF  ARACHNIDA  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 

1.  Garden-spider,  Epeira 

2.  House-spider,  Theridium 

3.  Crab-spider,  My  ale 

4.  Running  spider,  Lycosa 

5.  Jumping  spider,  Attus 

6.  Grass-spider,  A  galena 

7.  Trap-door  spider,  Cteniza 

8.  Wheel  web-spider,  Argiope 

9.  Water-spider,  Argyronetra 

f  i.  Scorpion,  Centrums 

\  2.  Harvestman,  Phalangium 


Araneina,  spiders  with  cepha- 
lothorax,  eight  legs 


2.  Arthrogastra,  jointed  abdomen, 

clawed  palpi 

3.  Acarina,  divisions  of  the  body 

united 


{i.  Mites,  A  car  us 
2.  Ticks,  Ixodes 


ORDERS  OF  INSECTS  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 


i.  Hymenoptera,  mostly 
social 


i.  Bees 


1.  Hive-bees,  Apis 

2.  Humblebees,  Bombus 

3.  Leaf-cutters,  Megachile 

4.  Mason-bees,  Osmia.. 

5.  Carpenter-bees,  Xylocopa 


Ants,  Formica 
Wasps,  Vespa 
Ichneumons,  Pimpla 
Gall-flies,  Rhodites 


2 

3 
4 

5- 

6.  Saw-flies,  Tremex 


2.  Lepidoptera,  scaly, 
mouth  a  proboscis 


i.  Butterflies 


1.  Papilio 

2.  Terias 

3.  Vanessa 

4.  Anosia 


2.  Clothes-moth,  Tinea 

3.  Regal  moth,  Citheronia 

4.  Sphinx,  Smerinthus 

5.  Codling,  Carpocapsa 

6.  Silkworm,  Bombyx 

7.  American  silk,  Polyphemus 


3.  Diptera, 

membranous  wings 


1.  Bot-fly,  Gasterophilus 

2.  House-fly,  Musca 

3.  Mosquito,  Culex 

4.  Flea,  Pwto 

5.  Daddy-long-legs,  Tipula 

6.  Flesh-fly,  Sarcophaga 

7.  Horse-fly,  Tobamis 

8.  Hessian-fly,  Cecidomyia 


Classification  of  Animals 


283 


4.  Coleoptera,  Chitinous  Elytra 


5.  Hemiptera,  bugs 


1.  Tiger-beetle,  Cicindela 

2.  Potato-beetle,  Doryphora 

3.  Ground-beetles,  Harpalus 

4.  Water-beetles,  Dytiscus 

5.  Ladybirds,  Coccinella 

6.  Weevils,  Balaninus 

7.  Bark -borers,  Dendroctonus 

8.  Fireflies,  Lampyris 

9.  Carrion-beetle,  Silpha 
10.  Tumblebugs,  Phanceus 
n.  June-bug,  Sachno  sterna 

12.  Goldsmith-beetle,  Cotalpa 

13.  Sexton-beetle,  Necrophorus 


1.  Bedbug,  Cimex 

2.  Louse,  Pediculus 

3.  Squash-bug,  ^4wasa 

4.  Assassin -bug,  Reduvius 

5.  Water-boatman  Notonecta 

6.  Water-strider,  Hygrotrechus 

7.  Plant-louse,  Aphis 

8.  Apple-blight  insect,  Schizoneura 

9.  Scale  insect,  Coccidce 
10.  Cochineal  insect,  Coccus 


6.  Orthoptera,  /we  m'w£ 
straight  and  narrow 


1.  Cricket,  Gryllus 

2.  Grasshopper,  Acrydium 

3.  Cockroach,  Blatta 

4.  Locust,  Locusta 

5.  Stick  insect,  Daphomera 

6.  Leaf  insect,  Phyllium 

7.  Earwigs,  Forficula 

8.  Seventeen-year  locust,  Cicada 

9.  Book-lice,  Psocus 


'  i.  Dragon-fly,  Libellula 

2.  White  ants,  Termes 

7.  Neuroptera, /<w£,  lacy,  equal  wings  I  3.  Caddis-flies,  Phryganea 

\  4.  May-flies,  Ephemera 

„  5.  Lace- wing  flies,  Hemerobiu 


I; 


ORDERS  OF  CRUSTACEA  AND  SOME  COMMON  GENERA. 

1.  Lobster,  Homarus 

2.  Crab,  Cancer 

_  ,.    ,        3.  Crayfish,  Astacus 

I.  Decapods,  fe«/«»&*  ^  *  ^^^  Cm^<m 

5.  Prawns,  Pandalus 

6.  Hermit-crab,  Pagurus 


284          Education  through  Nature 


3.  Entomostracans,  variable 
number  of  legs 


i.  Brine-shrimp,  Artemia 
2o  Water-flea,  Cyclops 
3.  Shell-flea,  Daphnia 


SOME  CLASSES,  ORDERS,  AND  GENERA  OF  MOLLUSKS. 


I.  Class  Lamellibranchs, 
bivalved  shell 


n 

13s 
o  &• 


,  Order  Monomya  {  ^ 


2.  Heteromya  —  Sea-mussel,  Mytilus 

(  i  .  Fresh-water  mussel,  Unio 

3.  Isomya  •!  2.  Clam,  My  a 

[3.  Quohog,  Venus 


1.  Order  Pteropods — Sea-butterflies,  Hyalea 

2.  Order  Opisthobranchs,  f  i.  Sea-lemon,  Doris 

with  feathery  gills       \  2.  Sea-hare,  Aplysia 


3.  Order  Pulmonates, 
air-breathers 


1.  Sand-snail,  Helix 

2.  Slugs,  Limax 


4.  Order  Prosobranchs, 
aquatic  gasteropods 


3.  Pond-snails 

1.  Limpet,  Patella 

2.  Litorina 

3.  Paludina 

4.  Nassa 


3.  Cephalo- 
poda, large 
mollusks 
with  dis- 
tinct head 


,  Nautilus 
;,  Ammonites 


2.  Order  Dibranchs 


1.  Paper-nautilus,  Argonauta 

2.  Poulpe,  Octopus 

3.  Squid,  Loligo 

.  4.  Cuttlefish,  ,S^w& 


Classification  of  Animals 


285 


CLASSES  OF  WORMS,  SOME  ORDERS  AND  GENERA. 

i.  Order  Turbellaria,  f  i.  Planaria 

planarians  \  2.  Dendroccelum 


i.  Class  Platy- 
helminthes, 
flat  segmented  < 
or  unseg- 
mented  worms 


2.  Order  Trematodes,  f  i.  Distomum 

flukes  \  2.  Fasciola 

3.  Order  Cestodes,  f  i.  Dog,  Tania 

tapeworm         \  2.  Human,  Bothriocephalus 

Order  Acanthocephali,  parasitic,  without  alimentary 
canal — Pig  parasite,  Echinorynchus 

1.  Human  roundworm,  Ascaris 

2.  Pin  worm,  Oxyuris 

3.  Palisade-worm,  Enstrongylus 
\  4.  Pork  parasite,  Trichina 


2.  Order  Nematodes' 
/rz/e  round- 
worms 


3.  Order  Chaetognathi,  Sagitta 

~,       -D   A.r  •  .  •      .7.  ,   ,  f  i.  Oval,  cleft  tail,  Squamella 

3.  Class  Rotifers,  microscopic  ciliated  \  ^  Elongaie)Worm-\ike,  Rotifer 

worms,  wheel  animalcules  j 


4.  Class  Polyzoa,  colonial,  moss-like  worms  - 


1.  Pedicellina 

2.  Myriozoum 

3.  Paludicella 

4.  Plumatella 


/_       -n,.        ,  •.,    ,       i      j          f  i.  Terebratulina 

5.  Class  Brachiopoda,  worms  with  dorsal  and  ven-  I  2    ^nauia 

tral  shell  resembling  mollusks  ^   '  jyfafaa 

6.  Class  Nemertina,  s0//  -flattened  worms,  not  f  i .  Anopla,  Mekelia 

distinctly  segmented  \  2.  Enopla,  N emeries 

_~  f  i.  Hirudo 

i.  Order  Hirudinea,  leeches  \  2.  Nephelis 
[  3.  Clepsine 


2.  Order  Annelides  • 


1.  Oligochceta,  f  i.  Lumbricus 

earth-        <  2.  ATaw 

worms        [3-  Allalobophora 

f  i.  Nereis 

2.  Chaetopoda,  I  2.  Clymenella 

sea-worms  \  3.  Amphitrite 
I  4.  Cirratulus 


286  Education  through  Nature 


SOME  CLASSES,  ORDERS,  AND  GENERA  OF  ECHINODERMS. 

^.        „  .     .,  ,.  .        .      7    f  i.  Order  Brachiata,  Pentacrinus 

i.  Class  Crmoidez  radiate  animals  \  ^  Order  Blastoidea,  P^mto 
with  jointed  flexible  stem  j  ^  Qrder  Cystideaj  Edriaster 


2.  Class  Asteroidea,  star- 
fishes with  sucking 
ambulacral  feet 


i.  Order  Asteroidea, 
true  starfishes 


1.  Asterias 

2.  Ar chaster 

3.  Solaster 
.4.  Cribella 


2.  Order  Ophiuroidea, 
sand-stars  and 
brittle-stars 


1.  Astrophyton 

2.  Amphiura 

3.  Ophioglypha 

4.  Ophiocoma 

5.  Ophiothela 


3.  Class  Echinoidea, 
sea-urchins  with 
spherical  or  flat, 
spiny  body 


f  i.  Echinus 

..  ,  .  .,       2.  Arbacia 
,1.  Order  Antichimdaj  3>  EcUnarachinus 

[4.  Clypeaster 
2.  Order  Spatangida,  Hemiaster 


111 


i.  Order  Apoda,  without 
ambulacral  feet 


Pentacta 
^ 


2.  Order  Pedata,  w#&  I 

ambulacral  feet     |  ^  Aspidochirot^  Holothuria 


Classification  of  Animals 


287 


CLASSES,  ORDERS,  AND  SOME  GENERA  OF 

CCELENTERATES. 

'  i.  Hydra 

2.  Sertularia 

i.  Order  Hydroidea    3.  Campanularia 

*§ 

4.  Obelia 

| 

5.  Hydr  actinia 

^  s 

6.  Cordylophora 

11 

f  i.  Mgina 

"3  *§ 

*             j 

\  2.  Charybdaa 

w.^o 

2.  Order  Discophora, 

g-s  . 

radial  canals  di-  - 

2.  Lucernarae,  Lucernaria 

11 

•uided 

I1' 

Pelagia 

^3.  Acalephae  -j  2. 

Aurelia 

[3.  Cyania 

3.  Order Siphonophora,  f  i.  Physophorae,  Agalma 
with  polymorphic   j  2.  Physaliae,  Physalia 
persons  j  3.  Calycophora,  Diphyes 

4.  Discoideae,  Velella 


2.  Class  Actinozoa, 
radiate  animals 
such  as  corals « 
and  sea-anem- 
ones 


i.  Order  Zoantharia  \  2'  SoraJ' 


i.  Sea-anemone,  Actinia 


.  Coral,  Astrangia 


.  i.  Order  Eurystomeae  j  ^* 


3.  Class  Ctenophora,  transparent 
walnut-shaped  animals 


2.  Order  Saccatae,  Pleurobranchia 

3.  Order  Taeniata,  Cesium 

4.  Order  Lobatae,  Bolina 


ORDERS  AND  SOME  GENERA  OF  SPONGES. 


i.  Order  Carneospongiae, 
m/^  flexible,  horny 
framework  of  fibers 


2.  Marine  sponge 


(i.  Chalinu 
2.  Spongia 
3.  Axinella 


3.  Venus  flower-basket,  Euplectettum 
t .  Order  Calcispongiae,  wft/t  calcareous  spicules—Sycon 


288  Education  through  Nature 


PROTOZOA. 

CLASSES  OF  PROTOZOA,  SOME  ORDERS  AND  SPECIES. 


I.  Class  Infusoria,  unicellular, 
ciliated,  with  permanent 
form 


fi 

i.  Order  Ciliataj  *' 


i.  Paramecium 

Stentor 
•  3.  Vorticella 
[4.  Epistylus 

2.  Order  Tentaculifera,  Acineta 

^   i     T-.I       11  .L    T  i.  Monas 
[3.  Order  Flagellata(2>  ^^ 


2.  Class  Gregarinida,  unicellular,  thread-  or  worm-like,  parasiticjorms 
(Gregarina) 


3  Class  Rhizopoda, 
unicellular,  with 
sojt  body  and 
root-like  pseudo- 
podia 


.  i.  Order  Foraminifera « 


1.  Amoeba 

2.  Globigerina 

3.  Rotalia 

.4.  Polystomella 


f  i.  Fresh  water, 
2.  Order  Radiolaria  |  Actinophrys 

[  2.  Marine,  Collosphara 


4.  Class  Monera,  uni- 
cellular forms 
•with  no  distinct 
nucleus 


.  Protamosba 


f     •  -.    ,      ~  /  i.  rrotamceoa 

i.  OrderGymnomonera|2>  Myxodictyum 


-v_j     * 

(  2.  Order  Lepomonera 


1.  Protomonas 

2.  Protomyxa 


CHAPTER  IV 
Material  and  Equipment 

XIV.  Collecting  and  Preserving  Material 

Saturday  and  vacation  excursions  offer  best  oppor- 
tunities for  collecting.  Each  member  of  the  party 
should  be  provided  with  something  in  which  to  carry 
the  material  collected.  Small  baskets,  bags,  tin  cans, 
and  bottles  will  do. 

For  collecting  plants  a  rubber  bag  or  a  tin  can,  which 
prevent  evaporation  and  hence  the  wilting  of  the  speci- 
mens, are  desirable.  A  convenient  form  of  collecting 
can  is  an  oval,  elongated  one  with  a  hinged  lid  on  one 
side.  Eighteen  inches  long,  with  ends  9  inches  by 
6  inches,  is  a  convenient  size.  It  should  be  provided 
with  loops  for  straps,  by  which  it  can  be  suspended 
from  the  shoulder.  Any  tinner  will  make  such  a  can 
for  about  $i  or  $1.50.  It  can  also  be  purchased  from 
dealers  (see  below). 

For  preserving  plants,  they  should  be  pressed  while 
fresh;  if  possible,  the  same  day  as  collected  or  at  least 
early  next  day.  Wrapping  them  in  moist  paper  or 
sprinkling  them  in  the  can  with  water  will  preserve 
them  from  withering  for  some  time.  In  order  to 
preserve  its  form  and  color  the  plant  should  be  placed 
between  blotting-paper  (or  porous  carpet-paper)  with 
pieces  of  newspaper  between.  A  convenient  size  of 
dryers  is  18  inches  by  12  inches. 

All  parts  of  the  plant,  root,  stem,  leaf,  and  fruit 
should  be  preserved  if  possible;  and  it  should  be  so 
placed  in  the  dryers  as  to  exhibit  the  natural  appear- 

289 


290  Education  through  Nature 

ance  when  dried.  The  dryers  are  then  piled  up  one 
on  top  of  the  other,  and  are  finally  placed  between 
two  boards  of  the  same  size  as  the  dryers.  Consid- 
erable pressure  is  then  produced,  either  by  a  heavy 
weight,  such  as  a  large  stone,  or  better  by  a  stout  cord 
or  rope  wound  around  projecting  cleats  fastened  to 
the  boards.  Such  convenient  portable  hand-presses 
can  also  be  purchased  for  $2  (see  below). 

The  dryers  should  be  changed  at  first  once  a  day  to 
preserve  the  natural  color.  If  the  dryers  are  allowed 
to  remain  moist,  the  specimen  it  apt  to  turn  brown. 
For  mounting  specimens  good  stiff  white  paper  should 
be  used.  It  can  be  obtained  from  dealers  at  a  small 
cost  (see  below).  The  specimen,  when  thoroughly 
dried  and  pressed,  is  placed  on  the  mounting  paper 
and  fastened  by  means  of  glue,  or  better,  narrow 
strips  of  white  court-plaster.  Some  taste  should  be 
used  in  placing  the  specimen  on  the  sheet  and  in  making 
the  sticking  strips  as  inconspicuous  as  possible.  A 
label  bearing  the  owner's  name,  printed  at  the  top,  is 
placed  in  the  right  hand-lower  corner,  the  edges  coin- 
ciding with  the  edge  of  the  sheet.  On  this  is  neatly 
written,  in  pen  and  ink,  the  date  of  collection,  the  local- 
ity, kind  of  soil,  the  scientific  and  common  name.  A 
convenient  size  for  these  labels  is  3^  by  i£  inches. 
Printers  usually  charge  about  15  cts.  per  hundred  for 
them. 

All  specimens  belonging  to  the  same  genus  (or  order) 
are  then  placed  into  covers  of  strong  Manilla  paper 
with  the  genus  or  order  written  in  the  right  lower  cor- 
ner. Finally,  these  are  placed  in  portfolios  manufac- 
tured expressly  for  that  purpose.  They  can  be  had 
from  dealers  at  prices  ranging  from  35  cts.  to  $i. 

ANIMALS. 

For  collecting  animals,  a  small  leather  grip,  contain- 
ing bottles  of  various  sizes  partly  filled  with  alcohol, 


Material  and  Equipment  291 

is  convenient.  A  tin  pail,  with  a  cover  having  a  hinge 
in  the  middle,  so  that  one-half  the  cover  can  be  opened, 
is  also  convenient.  Tinsmiths  make  them  to  order  at  a 
small  cost. 

Instead  of  alcohol  a  5%  aqueous  solution  of  For- 
maldehyde (Formalin)  may  be  used.  This  is  very 
much  cheaper  than  alcohol  and  preserves  some  deli- 
cate organisms  like  jellyfishes  beautifully.  Alcohol, 
however,  is  better  for  general  use. 

On  Raising  Insects  for  Study.  The  life  history  of 
insects  is  exceedingly  interesting.  To  actually  observe 
this  life  history  is  worth  considerable  trouble,  even  if 
that  were  necessary  to  secure  the  specimen.  Seeing 
the  actual  transformation  of  an  insect  is  a  revelation 
compared  with  merely  reading  an  account  of  it.  But 
insects  are  very  easily  reared.  The  simplest  and,  in 
many  localities,  the  most  convenient  insect  for  study 
is  the  "potato-bug."  Its  eggs  are  found  on  the  under 
side  of  the  leaf  of  the  potato,  where  they  can  be  readily 
watched  while  hatching.  It  requires  but  little  atten- 
tion to  see  this  beetle  actually  lay  its  eggs.  Dragon- 
flies  often  deposit  their  eggs  when  held  in  the  hand, 
and  moths  kept  in  confinement  lay  their  conspicuous 
eggs  where  they  can  readily  be  seen.  In  the  case  of 
the  potato-beetle,  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  watch  the 
gradual  transformation  of  the  egg  into  the  larva,  and 
to  observe  this  transforming  itself  into  the  adult  beetle. 
But  their  history  is  not  so  interesting  as  that  of  the 
common  fly,  butterflies,  and  moths. 

Flies  can  be  reared  for  study  in  the  following  way: 
(i)  Soak  some  beans  for  a  week  or  two;  (2)  place 
soaked  decaying  beans,  or  other  decaying  substance, 
in  a  dish  covered  with  a  bell  jar  (a  common  saucer 
covered  with  a  tumbler  will  do  for  a  moist  chamber); 
in  warm  weather  flies  are  attracted  by  the  odor,  and  if 
carefully  watched  they  can  be  seen  projecting  a  tube 
under  the  cover  into  the  decaying  substance.  The 


293          Education  through  Nature 

eggs  can  actually  be  seen  through  this  tube  as  they 
pass  down  one  by  one  and  are  placed  regularly  in 
tiers.  These  eggs  then  begin  to  hatch  and  after  a 
time  are  converted  into  worm-like  larvae,  usually  called 
maggots.  Observe  these  through  the  glass.  After 
some  days  of  feeding,  they  begin  to  crawl  around  on 
the  glass  and  finally  come  to  rest,  gradually  changing 
their  color  from  white  to  a  dark  brown — the  pupa. 
Observe  the  actual  transformation.  After  two  weeks 
the  real  fly  can  be  seen  coming  out  through  an  opening 
of  one  end  of  the  brown  shell. 

Butterflies.  Collect  some  of  the  large  larvae  walking 
over  leaves  or  stems  or  sometimes  on  the  ground. 
Note  the  kind  of  plant  they  live  on,  and  supply  them 
for  a  few  days  with  fresh  food  of  the  same  kind. 

They  may  be  kept  in  paper  boxes  if  nothing  better 
can  be  had;  a  very  convenient  cage  can  be  made 
from  an  ordinary  sieve  into  which  is  fitted,  as  a  cover, 
an  ordinary  kitchen  fly-screen.  This  allows  circula- 
tion of  the  air,  and  gives  an  unobstructed  view  of  the 
larva  at  work.  The  pupation  usually  takes  place  in  a 
few  days,  for  when  the  larva  begins  to  wander  about, 
it  is  a  sign  that  it  is  looking  for  a  suitable  place  to 
remain  during  the  pupa  stage.  The  final  transforma- 
tion takes  place  the  next  spring  in  May  and  June  after 
an  apparent  sleep  of  six  or  eight  months. 

Moths  can  be  secured  as  larvae;  or  the  adult  moth 
may  be  taken  and  kept  for  a  few  days,  when  it  will  lay 
its  eggs.  From  these  then  the  larvae  can  be  reared. 
(See  pupil's  paper  in  Part  I  on  the  "Sage  Galls  and 
Their  Inhabitants.") 

On  Killing  Insects.  Insects  and  similar  organisms 
should  first  be  put  into  a  cyanide  bottle.  This  can  be 
made  without  much  difficulty  as  follows:  Put  a  few 
lumps  of  Potassium  Cyanide  (druggists  keep  it)  into 
a  wide-mouthed  bottle;  or,  better,  a  small  museum  or 
preserving  jar;  cover  the  cyanide  with  cotton  batting, 


Material  and  Equipment  293 

and  place  over  it  all  a  piece  of  stiff  paper  cut  to  fit  the 
inside  of  the  bottle  or  jar;  fasten  the  edges  of  this 
paper  with  glue  after  having  punctured  a  few  holes  in 
it  for  the  fumes  to  pass  through.  Keep  the  bottle  or 
jar  constantly  closed,  for  the  fumes  are  poisonous. 
An  insect  put  into  such  a  jar  will  be  put  to  sleep  in  a 
few  minutes,  but  often  recovers  if  removed  too  soon. 

A  collecting-net  is  very  essential.  It  can  be  made 
very  cheaply  from  cheese-cloth,  a  stiff  wire,  and  a 
broom-handle.  The  cheese-cloth  is  made  into  a  bag 
about  2  feet  long.  The  free  edge  of  this  bag  is 
wound  around  the  stout,  stiff  wire  bent  into  a  circle 
about  ij  feet  in  diameter,  and  sewed  firmly  to  it. 
The  ends  of  the  bent  wire  are  crossed  and  tied  firmly 
to  the  handle  (bamboo  may  be  used),  about  4  feet 
long.  This  may  be  done  by  winding  fine  wire  around 
the  crossed  ends  of  the  hoop  after  making  a  notch  in 
the  end  of  the  handle  to  receive  the  crossed  hoop 
wires. 

A  pair  of  forceps  and  a  stout  knife  are  also  essential. 
Equipment  of  all  kinds,  like  those  enumerated  above, 
can  be  purchased  from  Bausch  and  Lomb,  Rochester, 
New  York,  by  sending  directly  to  them.  They  also 
have  branch  houses  in  Chicago  and  San  Francisco. 
Druggists  can  frequently  supply  alcohol,  formalin, 
viols,  etc. 

The  following  items,  with  the  price  of  each,  are 
taken  from  the  Catalog  (sixteenth  edition)  of  the 
Pacific  Micro-Materials  Company,  432  Montgomery 
Street,  San  Francisco: 

1.  Drying    Paper,   extra  heavy,   33X46   cm.,   per 
hundred,  $1.00. 

2.  Genus    Covers,   42.5X61.3   cm.,    extra   quality, 
per  hundred,  $2.00. 

3.  Mounting    Paper,    29.2X42    cm.,    purest 
strongest  stock  per  ream,  $4.50. 


294          Education  through  Nature 

4.  Portable    Plant    Press,    elastic   bands    with    six 
dryers,  $2.00. 

5.  Vasculum  (collecting-box)  enameled,  each,  $1.50. 

6.  Hand-lenses  of  various  makes  can  be  had  for 
from  20  cts.  to  $2.00. 

7.  Forceps,   medium    fine,  straight    points,  file-cut 
edge,  each,  40  cts. 

8.  Scalpels,  with    ebony  handle,  best    steel,  each, 
35  cts. 

For  $5  can  be  had  the  following  complete  set  of  in- 
struments of  the  best  quality  of  steel  in  Morocco-leather 
two-fold  case,  with  velvet  lining  and  chamois-skin  pro- 
tecting flaps:  Catalog  No.  1612.  It  contains: 

i  Scalpel,  No.  1458;  all  steel  ,edge  45  mm. 

i       "         "     1462;    "     "        "      32    " 

i       "         "     1464;    "     "        "      25    " 

i  Scissors,  "     1550;  fine,  straight. 

i        "        "    1560;  heavy    "         140  mm.  long. 

i  Forceps,"     1394;  for  vertebrate  work. 

i        "         "     1388;  heavy,  straight,  120  mm.  long. 

i  Cartilage  Knife,  No.  1492;  all  steel,  edge  45  mm. 

i  Tenaculum,  No.  1596. 

i  Seeker,  No.  1590. 

i  Triple  Chain  and  Hooks,  No.  1430. 

i  Blow-pipe,  No.  1370. 

XL  Reference  Books  for  the  Teacher's  Library. 

1.  Wood's  New  Illustrated  Natural  History.     George  Routledge  & 

Sons,  New  York. 

2.  Animal   Life,   by  Jordan   and  Kellogg.     D.  Appleton   &  Co., 

New  York. 

3.  Introduction  to  Zoology,  by  Davenport.     The  Macmillan  Com- 

pany, New  York. 

4.  Plants,  by  John  M.  Coulter.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

5.  The  Foundations  of  Botany,  by  Bergen.     Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston. 

6.  The  Structure  and  Habits  of  Spiders,  by  J.  H.  Emerton.     B. 

Whidden,  Boston. 

7.  Manual  of  the  Vertebrates,  by  David  Starr  Jordan.    A.  C. 

McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

8.  Flowers  and  Ferns  in  their  Haunts,  by  M.  O.  Wright.    The 

Macmillan  Company,  New  York. 


Material  and  Equipment  295 

9.  Nature  Study  and  Life,  by  C.  F.  Hodge.  Ginn  &  Co.,  Bos- 
ton. 

10.  Outlines  of  Botany,  by  R.  G.  Leavitt.  American  Book  Company, 
Chicago. 

n.  Johnson's  Natural  History,  by  S.  G.  Goodrich.  A.  J.  Johnson, 
New  York. 

12.  The  Royal  Natural  History,  edited  by  Richard  Lydekker.     Fred- 

erick Warne  &  Co.,  New  York.     5  vols. 

13.  Gray  &  Coulter's  Text-book  of  Botany.     American  Book  Com- 

pany, Chicago. 

14.  The  Butterfly  Book,  by  W.  J.  Holland.     Doubleday  &  McClure 

Co.,  New  York. 

15.  Bird  Neighbors,  by  Neltje  Blanchau.     Doubleday   &  McClure 

Co. 

16.  Comparative  Zoology,  by  James  Orton.     American  Book  Com- 

pany, Chicago. 

17.  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,  by  Charles  Darwin. 

p.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

18.  Origin  of  Species,  by  Charles  Darwin.     D.  Appleton    &  Co., 

New  York. 

19.  Lay  Sermons,  Addresses,  and  Reviews,  by  T.  H.  Huxley.     D. 

Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

20.  Apes  and  Monkeys,  by  R.  L.  Garner.     Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston. 

21.  Nature  Study  in  Elementary  Schools,  by  Mrs.  L.  L.  Wilson. 

The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York. 

22.  Nature  Study,  by  Jackman.     Henry  Holt  &  Co. 

23.  One  Hundred  Lessons  in  Nature,  by  Frank  O.  Payne.     E.  L. 

Kellogg  Co. 

24.  Handbook  of  Nature  Study,  by  D.  Lange.    The  Macmillan 

Company,  New  York. 

25.  How  to  Know  the  Wild  Flowers,  by  Mrs.  William  Starr  Dana. 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

26.  Lives    of  the    Hunted,  by  Ernest  Seton-Thompson.      Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

27.  Wild  Animals  I  Have  Known,   by  Ernest  Seton-Thompson. 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

28.  The  Beauties  of  Nature,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock.     The  Macmillan 

Company,  New  York. 

29.  The  Friendship  of  Nature,  by  Mabel  Osgood  Wright.     The  Mac- 

millan Company,  New  York. 

30.  Short  Studies  in  Nature  Knowledge,  by  William  Gee.     The  Mac- 

millan Company,  New  York. 

31.  Wake-Robin,  by  John  Burroughs.    Houghton,  Mifflin   &  Co., 

Boston  and  New  York. 

32.  Fresh  Fields,  by  John  Burroughs.     Houghton,  Mifflin   &  Co., 

Boston  and  New  York. 

33.  Birds  and  Poets,  by  John  Burroughs.     Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 

Boston  and  New  York. 

34.  Insect  Life,  by  J.  H.  Comstock.    D.  Appleton    &  Co.,  1901, 

New  York. 


296          Education  through  Nature 

35.  How  to  Know  the  Ferns,  by  Frances  Theodora  Parsons.     Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

36.  A  Text-Book  of  Entomology,  by  A.  S.  Packard.     The  Macmillan 

Company,  New  York 

37.  Jelly-fish,   Starfish  and  Sea-urchins,  by  G.  J.  Romanes.     D. 

Appleton  &  Co  ,  New  York. 

38.  Trees  of  Northern  United  States,  by  Austin  C.  Apgar.     Ameri- 

can Book  Company,  Chicago. 

39.  Animal  Biology,  by  C.  Lloyd  Morgan.     Rivingtons,  London. 

40.  Mosses  of  North  America,  by  Lesquereux  and  James,      Bradlee 

Whidden,  Boston 

41.  The  Naturalist's  Assistant,  by  J.  S.  Kingsley.     Bradlee  Whidden, 

Boston. 

42.  Microbes,  Ferments,  Moulds,  by  E.  L.  Trouessart.     D.  Appleton 

&  Co,,  New  York. 

43.  Vegetable  Mould  and  Earth -Worms,  by  Charles  Darwin.     D. 

Appleton   &  Co.,  New  York. 

44.  Methods  of  Study  in  Natural  History,  by  L.  Agassiz.     Houghton, 

Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York. 

45.  Naturalist's  Voyage,   Round  the  World,   by  Charles  Darwin. 

D.  Appleton  &  Co..  New  York. 

46.  Flashlights  on  Nature,  by  Grant  Allen.     Doubleday  &  McClure 

Co.,  New  York. 

47.  In  Bird  Land,  by  Leander  S.  Keyser.     McClurg  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

48.  Young  Folk's  Illustrated  Book  of  Birds,  by  T.  Bilby.     Hurst  & 

Co.,  New  York. 

49.  Fungi,  their  Nature  and  Uses,  by  M.  C.  Cooke.    D.  Appleton  & 

Co.,  New  York. 

50.  Insectivorous  Plants,  by  Charles  Darwin.    D.  Appleton  &  Co., 

New  York. 

51.  Animal  Life,  by  Karl  Semper.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

52.  The  Geographical  and  Geological  Distribution  of  Animals,  by 

Angelo  Heilprin.     D.  Appleton    &  Co. 

53.  Industries  of  Animals,  by  Frederic  Houssay.    Charles  Scribner's 

Sons,  New  York. 

54.  The  Study  of  Animal  Life,  by  J.  Arthur  Thomson.     Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

55.  Bird-Life,  by  Frank  M.  Chapman.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New 

York. 

56.  A  Child's  Garden  Verses,  by  Robert  Louis  Stevenson.     Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 

57.  The  Story  of  the  Birds,  by  J.  N.  Baskett.     D.  Appleton  &  Co., 

New  York. 

58.  Curious  Homes  and  their  Tenants,  by  James  Carter  Beard.    D. 

Appleton   &  Co.,  New  York. 

59.  A  First  Book  upon  the  Birds  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  by  W. 

R.  Lord.    The  Irwin-Hodson  Company,  Portland,  Ore. 


Material  and  Equipment  297 


CHILD   LITERATURE. 

60.  The  Poetical  Works  of  Lucy  Larcom.    Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 

Boston  and  New  York. 

61.  The  Poetical  Works  of  Alice  and  Phoebe  Gary.    Houghton, 

Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York. 

62.  Botanical  Reader.     Jane  Newell. 

63.  Plants  and  their  Children.     Mrs.  Dana. 

64.  Story  of  the  Trees.     Mrs.  Dyer. 

65.  First  Lessons  on  Minerals.     Mrs.  Richards. 

66.  Familiar  Trees  and  their  Leaves.     Schuyler  Matthews. 

67.  Fairy  Land  of  Science.     Arabella  Buckley. 

68.  Songs  for  Little  Children.     Eleanor  Smith. 

69.  Thirty-six  Observation  Lessons  on  Common  Minerals.     Clapp. 

70.  Nature  in  Verse.     Lovejoy. 

71.  Parables  from  Nature.     Mrs.  Gatty. 

72.  Poems  by  Helen  Hunt  Jackson. 

73.  The  Poetical  Works  of  William  Cullen  Bryant. 

74.  The  Poetical  Works  of  John  Greenleaf  Whittier. 

75.  In  the  Child's  World.     Emile  Poulsson. 

76.  When  Life  is  Young.     Mrs.  Dodge. 

77.  Stories  Mother  Nature  Told.     Jane  Andrews. 

78.  Poetical  Works  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow. 

79.  Wordsworth's  Poems. 


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